


One Last Shot

by x2XLyricsX2x



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Past Love, Past Lovers, Reuniting, Secrets, Spies, hostage, secret agents, secret life, side narry possibly.. Sort of..., ziam, ziam palik - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-18 00:58:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5892004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/x2XLyricsX2x/pseuds/x2XLyricsX2x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam Smith is an accountant who enjoys playing unrealistic video games with his mates until ridiculous hours of the night, worries about paying his bills, and hopes to go on the occasional date.</p>
<p>Liam Payne is a secret agent who kills and lies for a living, doesn't know who to trust while worrying if he'll see the next day, and loves a man who he hurt deeply.</p>
<p>Liam Smith and Liam Payne are the same person, the same person in two very different times of his life, but what happens when past and present mix? What happens when Liam's old life catches up with him, puts his new friends' lives in danger and forces him to call up his old love for help? Will he be able to save his friends? Will his old love help him? Liam doesn't see a reason as to why he should after what he did but knows he can't do this without him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my new Ziam Fic, it's been sitting on my computer for eons so I just want to post the first chapter to see if anyone would even want to read it. If you do, make sure to let me know! It's not finished but I do have about four or five chapters written already so I'll post those gradually and keep writing as well!

**Thursday, September 18th, 12:06 am.**

 

"Don't tell me to calm down, Liam!" Louis yelled, pacing back in forth in the car park. Liam watched helplessly, unable to form the words needed to explain himself, to explain this situation. He just couldn't think with Louis yelling at him. He couldn't think with Harry glaring at him from where he leaned against the beat up up car. "If that's even your fucking name, Jesus Christ!" And yeah, Liam supposed he deserved that.

"Louis, please, just- just let me think. I can fix this, I can get us out of this. I can get Niall back, I just need you stop yelling at me every second." Liam begged, his fists clenched at his sides. Louis stopped pacing, turning to join Harry in glaring at Liam.

"Please, be my guest. Fix this, Liam. Because I swear to God if Niall dies, you will too." Louis threatened. Liam took a deep breath, trying to sort his thoughts out, trying to come up with some kind of plan. It was difficult to think though with the icy blue eyes of Louis and the emerald green eyes of Harry fixed on him as if they were trying to make Liam burst into flames with their minds. Of course he couldn't blame them for being so upset, given the circumstances. He was used to this kind of thing, they were not. He spent a good seven years dealing with this kind of stuff whereas they didn't even know this kind of stuff happened. To them, these kinds of situations only happened in movies or TV shows, not in real life. Secret agents, hostages, car chases didn't happen in real life. At least not in their life.

But Liam's life? Well, Liam's old life? It was almost an everyday occurrence. He's been through this countless times, or at least situations similar to this. Life threatening situations used to be like going to the grocery store to pick up that milk you forgot to get, it just happened. It used to be his job to put his life on the line to save someone or stop something horrible from happening. He was used to it, and didn't mind doing it because it meant that the majority of people got to live in peace, not knowing that there really was people out there that truly just wanted to watch the world burn. He hated when people thought they were above everyone else and thought they could do what they want without accounting for anyone else. He hated that and so he was recruited to help stop people like that. But he got out of that. He got out of that years ago, he couldn't do it anymore because he was tired of the lies. He was tired of not knowing who to trust, of not knowing if he would see the next day and he was tired of being so alone. With that job you couldn't have friends or family members even because not only did you have to constantly lie to them but friends and family were only something else your enemies could use against you. Much like right now.

"Okay, I know this seems a little hectic-" Liam started to talk but really, Louis was being impossible.

"A little hectic? No, Liam, this is fucking insane! What the fuck is going on?" Louis demanded. Liam gave a frustrated sigh and had to remind himself that Louis was just scared, that he was scared and he didn't know what else to do.

"Okay, yes, it's crazy. But as I said before... I know what I'm doing. You'll have to trust me."

"Trust you? You've lied to us for two and a half years, how the fuck are we supposed to trust you?" Louis demanded. Liam looked to Harry for help, he was usually pretty level headed and calm, but all he got was a look of confusion, a look of hurt and anger.

"Don't look at me, Liam. I can't help you out of this one." Harry mumbled, casting his eyes to the cement beneath their feet.

"I know," Liam began, defeated. He really couldn't blame them at all. He'd be just as pissed and confused if the roles were reversed. "I know I lied to you. But I'm telling you the truth now. My name is Liam. I used to work for a government organization- don't roll your eyes at me, Lou." Liam sighed as Louis in fact rolled his eyes, turning away and going to stand by Harry and the now probably useless car. "But I got out of that years ago. I don't know what's going on or what these people want but I can promise you, I will get Niall back."

"How?"

"I- I don't know yet. I need more information, I need... I just- It doesn't matter, just go home and I'll-"

"We're not going home." Harry cut in at the same time Louis did.

"Yeah, the fuck right."

"No, you guys have to go home, this isn't some game you can play, if you die, you die. There's no reset, there's no start over." Liam tried to explain as calmly as possible, he knew they were told if they run, they would die but they weren't running. Liam was only sending them home, he didn't want to put them in danger.

"No shit, thanks for explaining that because I thought we were testing some super realistic video game before they put it out for everyone." Louis said dryly, only stopping because Harry had put a hand over his mouth.

"Liam, whoever this is, whoever is doing this knows who we are. Who's to say he won't take us as well? Or kill us, or go after our families? We can't just go home. It wouldn't be safe." Harry said calmly.

"Coming with me won't be safe either." Liam mumbled.

"Well, as much as I hate to say it, because this is all your fault, we're safer with you than on our own." Harry grumbled. "So, you don't have a choice, we're coming with you." Liam sighed, not really knowing how to argue with that then flinched when he heard the faint sound of his ringtone coming from the inside of the beat up car. He doesn't want to answer it, he knows who it has to be, because no one else would be calling him at midnight.

"Is it him?" Harry asked, glancing in through the non-existent windows, non-existent due to the bullets that were recently shot through them.

"Probably." Liam answered, not making a move.

"Are you going to answer it?" Harry asked and Liam couldn't tell if Harry wanted him to or if he was silently telling him not to. Liam sighed, running his fingers through his short hair then took the few steps to the car. He opened the door, the hinge groaning in protest and reached in, grabbing his phone and hitting answer. He held it to his ear as he backed out of the car but didn't say hello, he only waited for them to start talking.

"Good evening, Agent Payne. Glad to see you're still alive."


	2. Chapter 2

**Two hours earlier... Wednesday, September 17th, 10:06 pm.**

Liam sat on the couch of his flat, his feet kicked up on the coffee table, a glass of Pepsi in one hand and his other hand digging in a bowl of popcorn as he watched Harry and Louis face each other in some totally unrealistic video game. The weapons were ridiculously exaggerated, the missions were stupid and who the hell could run constantly with that much gear on? No one, but Liam shouldn't know any of that. No, Liam Smith doesn't know anything about guns or missions, he knows numbers and football and hanging with his mates, he reminded himself as he shoved another handful of popcorn into his mouth that really shouldn't fit but somehow it did. Well, most of it.

"You eat like a pig." Harry commented, his green eyes still glued to the TV screen in front of him, his long legs folded in front of him, barley fitting on the sofa. Liam regarded the curly haired lad as he chewed, frowning while he waited for the ability to speak. From the corner of his eye he saw Harry take nearly an entire clip to kill a bad guy and he found life was too short to wait for an empty mouth.

"And you shoot like a monkey." He mumbled around the popcorn. Louis snorted from the floor where his legs were stretched out under the coffee table, his back against the sofa as he too shot an entire clip and still didn't kill his target, but Louis never cared about being a hypocrite.

"Actually, I think a monkey could shoot better." Louis commented. Harry huffed and tossed the controller at Liam.

"You do better." He said and waited expectantly. Liam paused for only a second, swallowing what was now mush in his mouth before picking up the controller. As it turns out, Liam isn't a great shot either. At least not on an X-Box game. In real life though, he could hit a fly on a wall at fifty feet in one shot. This game was stupid anyway.

"I guess we're all no better than a bunch of monkeys." Liam sighed, handing the controller back to a smug looking Harry. Liam stood then, heading to his kitchen and ruffling Louis' brown hair on the way by, earning a kick to the ankle and a threat about Liam losing his hand if he messes up Louis' perfectly messy hair. Before Liam could make it to the kitchen though, there was a knock at the door. Liam changed his course, wondering why Niall would be knocking because he normally would just walk right in and he was the only person Liam was expecting this late at night.

It wasn't the blonde Irishman at the door, it actually wasn't anyone at the door, just a package about the size of a shoe box. Liam frowned down at the box at his feet, then bent to pick it up. It wasn't exactly heavy but it definitely had something inside of it. Liam glanced down the hall in both directions in case whoever put the box outside his flat was still there, but there wasn't a soul in sight. Liam brought the box into the flat, the kitchen long forgotten because he wasn't expecting a delivery, and made his way back to the sofa. Liam had a brief thought that maybe it was a delivered to the wrong flat but the name on the box was 'Liam Smith' and that was supposed to be him, right?

"Ooh, someone got a package!" Harry said excitedly as Liam took his seat, his eyes still glued to the TV screen.

"What is it? What is it? What is it?" Louis asked as he paused the game, much to Harry's dismay, and turned around to sit on his knees as he peered at the box with Liam. Liam shook his head.

"I don't know, I haven't ordered anything." Liam mumbled, looking the box over. It wasn't from a shipping company because there were no labels and there wasn't even an address on it. Only the name 'Liam Smith'.

"Well that's kind of the point in opening it, mate." Louis said, his tone suggesting Liam was a dolt. Maybe he was, but Liam couldn't shake his old habits. This was suspicious. It had trouble written all over it. The anonymous drop, the simple name on the box with no other address or instructions. He shouldn't open it, he had no idea what was inside. There could be a bomb in there, there could be a poisonous gas, although Liam doubted gas would rattle like that when he moved it and a bomb usually didn't have loose parts to rattle. Liam sighed because that's not who he was anymore, he had to remember that. He left that life behind and no one knew who he was.

"Come on, mate. What are you waiting for?" Harry encouraged. "Could be a secret admirer, that bloke from down the hall seemed pretty interested." Harry said, waggling his eyebrows at Liam and Liam couldn't help but chuckle. Why couldn't his mind work like that? Why couldn't his first thought be a secret admirer instead of someone wanting to kill him? Because he didn't spend his whole life oblivious to the real world, Liam reminded himself.

"Alright." Liam mumbled and slowly peeled off the tape that was holding it closed, opening the flaps.

"Holy shit." Louis mumbled when he saw what was inside. It wasn't a bomb, it wasn't poisonous gas but it sure as hell wasn't chocolate and flowers. Inside the box was a passport, though Liam couldn't see who for, a flash drive and what Liam noticed first, what he assumed everyone noticed first, was a loaded gun with a spare clip.

"What the fuck?" Harry asked, backing away from the box as if the box itself were pointing the gun at him. Louis looked at Liam in confusion, a silent question hanging in the air, but Liam didn't have an answer. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to say it because he was speechless. He didn't understand. Who was sending him a gun, a passport and a flash drive and why? Did they know who Liam really was? Was this a joke? The gun could be fake, he supposed but he didn't think it was. Louis reached into the box because he apparently wasn't getting any answers from Liam and pulled out the passport. Liam noticed he made sure to keep away from the gun. Louis opened the passport but his confusion only seemed to grow and Liam really did not have a good feeling about this.

"Liam?" Louis asked, his voice shaky. "Who is Liam Payne?" No. Liam thought, No, no, no, no, no, no. This is not happening. This is a dream, he assured himself. This has to be a dream. "Liam?" Louis asked again, his voice filled with so many different emotions. Liam snatched the passport from Louis, turning it to see a picture of himself from a few years ago and all his information, including the name 'Liam Payne'. Harry snatched the passport from Liam, Liam feeling too shocked to stop him.

"What the fuck? Is this a joke?" Harry asked after reading the passport. Liam shook his head, knowing very well that this was not a joke, it wasn't even a dream like he had hoped. This was real. Someone found out who he was, or someone from his past had found him and now they were- what? What were they doing? Trying to expose him? Why would they send him a gun? What was on the flash drive?

"Liam, you had better say something if you know what the fuck is going on." Louis warned. Liam turned to look at him, his brown eyes meeting the scared and confused blue of Louis'. There was no point in trying to deny it.

"I'm Liam Payne." Liam said so quietly he wasn't sure they heard him.

"No, you're Liam Smith." Harry said, his confusion obvious. Liam shook his head again.

"I need a computer." Liam said, hoping one of them would get his laptop for him because he was certain his legs would be beyond useless at the moment. Louis hesitated for a second but stood eventually and retrieved Liam's laptop for him, handing it to him silently. When Liam turned it on, he angled it away from his two friends, not knowing what he would find on the flash drive he was now inserting into the laptop, but Louis wouldn't accept that. He jerked the laptop back so they all could see, giving Liam a look that was cautious and scared and confused and Liam couldn't find it in him to hide this from them as well. "I don't know what's on here." Liam explained in a shaky voice. "It could be nothing, but it could be awful." Liam warned but the two boys made no show of moving away or looking away so Liam opened the file for the drive.

There was a single video file on the drive and Liam really, really didn't have a good feeling about this. He should tell them to leave. He should shut the laptop and make them leave. They'd be better off without him. Someone obviously knows who he is and where he lives, he needs to run. He needs to forget about these people and run. It's better for him and them, they'd only be in danger but when he looked at them, he honestly couldn't imagine life without them. He couldn't imagine life without Louis' annoying jokes or Harry's complete understanding. He couldn't imagine not having Louis around to make him smile even when he didn't want to or Harry's wonderful baking that made Liam want to give up on trying to stay in shape and have him bake for him for the rest of his life. And he knew leaving them meant leaving Niall as well, and that was a horrible thought really. Niall was wonderful, he was so accepting and happy and carefree. He just made you want to smile just being around him because you could see just how much he enjoyed life, it was infectious.

Liam was selfish, really. He should never have gotten involved with these people. He should have just lived his life alone instead of putting them at risk. But it was too late for that so he clicked on the video file, opening it and the video started almost immediately. He shouldn't have opened it. He really should have told them to leave. He was an idiot.

The video showed a black screen for a few seconds then suddenly a dark room appeared, Liam guessed it was a cellar of some kind with the cement walls and the single small window near the ceiling, the only source of light in the room it seemed. In the middle of the room was a chair, and in the chair sat a disheveled looking blonde with scared blue eyes and tears running down his dirt smudged face. Niall. Liam felt his stomach drop and his heart stop because it was Niall sitting in the chair. Niall who was supposed to be on his was over here right now. Niall who looked like absolute shit at the moment, who looked like he was recently in a fight and he hadn't come out on top. His lip was cut and his jaw bruised, he had what looked like dried blood on the side of his face and his clothes were torn. His hands were tied behind his back, each of his legs strapped to a chair leg as he sat there staring into the camera.

"Niall?" Harry asked, his voice panicked.

"Liam, what the fu-" Louis began but then someone said something on the video, shutting them both up.

"Go on, just like we talked about." The voice said. It wasn't Niall but it was male, someone behind the camera. Niall sniffled, his eyes darting to somewhere over the camera then back to the camera as if he were looking right at Liam.

"Liam?" Niall said, his voice cracked and dry. "Li, I don't know what's going, there's a man, he says to tell you that if you don't do exactly as he says, he'll- he'll kill me." Niall explained, his voice broken by a sob. "What's going on Liam? What did you do?" He asked as though Liam were standing there in the room with him, as if he could respond but Liam knew this was a pre-recorded video, not a live feed. "He's telling me you're not who you say you are... I don't know what to think of that. Please, just give him what you owe him or whatever it is. I don't want to die, Li."

"Enough. Back to the point." The other voice demanded.

"He says- he says to wait by your phone for further instructions." Niall said, visibly trying to calm himself. "If you go to the police, he'll kill me. If you run, he'll kill me." Niall sniffled again, hanging his head and mumbling something that sounded like a half assed prayer. "If Lou or Haz run, he'll kill them and me." Then the video went blank and ended, the room falling quiet. Liam closed the video and pulled out the flash drive, slipping it into his pocket.

"Please tell me this is a joke." Louis said, his eyes now locked onto Liam's. "Please tell me this is a sick joke."

"It's not a joke." Liam mumbled as he placed the laptop on the coffee table.

"Who the fuck are you?" Louis demanded, standing up and staring down at Liam.

"I'm Liam." Liam answered because he really didn't know what else to say. He couldn't believe this was happening. After years of hiding, of lying about who he was and pretending so much he often forgot he was living a double life, it was all falling apart. His past was catching up with him. He thought he had done everything right, burned every trail leading him back to Liam Payne but he apparently was wrong.

"Don't give us that shit. Tell us what's going on." Louis demanded.

"I don't know!" Liam yelled back. He was just as confused and concerned for Niall as Louis was and Liam didn't think it was very fair he was yelling at him like that.

"Then tell us what you do know." Harry said calmly, going to stand by Louis. "Because you obviously know something." Liam sighed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands.

"My name is Liam Payne," Liam started, raking his fingers down his face and resting his chin on top of his two fists. "Three years ago I worked for a government organization. I can't tell you which one but I can tell you we specialized in the unbelievable. I've been trained to kill a man with his own finger, to disarm a bomb in seven seconds flat, to shoot-"

"Okay, Mission Impossible, now the truth." Louis interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Liam.

"That is the truth. From when I was eighteen till I was twenty five I was a Secret Agent. Believe me, don't believe me, I don't care." Liam said, already exhausted by Louis' comments.

"Okay, say we believe you. What happened when you turned twenty five?" Harry asked clamping a hand over Louis' mouth before he could make another comment.

"I got out. I couldn't do it anymore. I left, I became Liam Smith, the accountant." Liam explained. He always knew there was a chance of this happening. You don't just leave that life.

"Okay, so if you got out, why is Niall strapped to a chair telling us to wait for some guy to call-" Harry was asking when the phone started ringing in Liam's pocket. Harry's words died on his tongue as they all stared at Liam's pocket. Liam mentally shook himself, he had to pull himself together. He was better than this, he had to be the clear headed one here. Liam dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen. The ID read; 'Unknown, Unknown'. He hit answer.

"Hello?" Liam answered, holding the phone to his ear.

"Agent Payne. Did you get my package?" The voice asked, the same voice from the video.

"Who are you?" Liam asked immediately. He was ignored.

"Have you seen the video? How was the lighting? I was going for a dramatic effect, did it turn out alright?" He asked, this time Liam ignored him.

"Where's Niall? What do you want?"

"Ah, ah, ah. I'll be doing to the talking, you'll be doing the listening." The voice explained. Liam bit his tongue, he had to be smart about this, Niall's life was on the line. "First of all, put me on speaker, you don't want your friends to feel left out, do you?" Liam glanced at Harry and Louis who were standing side by side, regarding Liam with hurt and confused looks.

"I'm alone." Liam tried, both of the boys frowned.

"Don't lie to me, Agent Payne. I know more about you than you do, put me on speaker." The voice said in a warning tone. Liam sighed and put him on speaker, setting the phone on top of his laptop. "Mr. Styles? Mr. Tomlinson? Can you hear me?" The voice asked, sounding incredibly loud in the quiet room.

"Y-yes." Harry stuttered out.

"Good. Now, you two are probably a bit confused, am I right?" The voice asked and waited. Neither Harry nor Louis replied. "Come, come, I don't like talking to myself. Are you confused?" The voice insisted.

"Yes." Harry said quietly, his eyes locking with Liam's. Liam could see the shine of tears in his eyes though he couldn't tell if they were from fear, frustration or betrayal. He figured it was probably a mix of the three.

"Quite understandable, if you ask me. You've known Agent Payne for how long and you really had no idea who he really was, did you?" The voice asked.

"No." Harry answered, still staring at Liam. Liam couldn't take it anymore and averted his eyes to Louis but that was no better so he looked at the phone on the laptop.

"Well, let me explain. Agent Payne is not a nice man. He's a killer, a murderer if you will and although he says he's doing it in the name of justice, it is still murdering people. Guilty or innocent, it doesn't matter." The man went on to explain. "And of course, things happen, he's given the wrong information or someone gets in the way and an innocent is killed at the hands of Agent Payne."

"Enough. Where is Niall? Is he alive?" Liam cut in, not able to listen anymore. He knew what he was and what he's done, he didn't need a recap.

"He is."

"Prove it." Liam basically growled.

"You've got the video. What more could you need?' The voice asked.

"That could have been recorded hours ago. I want to talk to him." Liam demanded.

"Ah, but there isn't any time for socializing. You're on a clock, Agent Payne. Best not to waste time." The voice said and didn't give Liam time to respond. "See, I need you for something but I need to know if you still have what it takes. In five minutes your flat will be filled with people assigned to take you, and your friends, out. Kill them, loose them, do what you must but don't die. When you're no longer being followed go to the parking garage on Brockville and wait for my call."

"Wait, no, I don't-" Liam tried but he wasn't having any of it.

"Four minutes now, Agent Payne." Then the call was disconnected.

Liam could hear his heart pounding in his ears as his head swam with a million and one questions. Who was this person? What did he want with Liam? How did he find Liam? Was Niall alive? Were there really people coming to kill them?

"Liam, what the hell is going on?" Harry asked, his voice sounding panicked.

"What did he mean four minutes? Are people really coming to kill us?" Louis asked, glancing over his shoulder at the door as if to check if it was still closed.

"Probably." Liam answered honestly, standing up. He slipped the passport into his pocket along with the spare clip for the gun. He took the gun itself and popped the clip out to make sure it was in fact loaded, then reloaded it again and tucked it in the waistband on his jeans behind his back.

"How'd you do that?" Louis asked, referring to Liam's ease with unloading and loading a gun.

"We really don't have time for questions like that." Liam mumbled as he slipped past the two boys and headed to his room, grabbing his jacket, keys, and wallet. He glanced at his phone. Three minutes.

"Liam, this isn't funny." Harry's voice came from behind him. "Stop it. Stop the joke." He pleaded and Liam could tell without even looking at him that Harry knew this wasn't a joke, that he was only hoping it was. Liam turned around to see Harry's eyes filled with tears as he tried to calm himself.

'I'm sorry, Haz." Liam said quietly. "I'm sorry, I wish it was. You guys need to grab your stuff, grab a sweater of mine. We need to go." Liam explained just as Louis came up behind Harry, looking just as lost and upset and they just stood there staring at Liam, seeming unsure if they should trust him. "Look, I know how this looks but you can be mad at me later when we're safe. You don't have to like me, you just have to trust me because whether or not you like me, they are going to kill you. They are going to kill you because it's going to hurt me if they do. So please, get your stuff, we have less than two minutes." Liam tried to explain as clearly as possible. He really hated himself right now. He hated himself for getting involved in their lives, if it weren't for him they could be playing video games right now, safely with no fearing for their lives. "Guys, now." Liam said more urgently, finally getting them to at least look at each other to decide what they were going to do. Honestly, Liam would kidnap them if he had to.

"How are we supposed to trust you after lying to us about who you were?" Harry asked but he went to Liam's closet anyway, grabbing a sweater and tossing it at Louis then grabbing one for himself. Liam lead the way to the door of his flat, slowly opening it and peering outside into the hall and seeing that it was clear.

"The only thing I lied to you about was my last name and my old jobs. The rest was me, it was all me." Liam said quietly, leading them down the hall to the stairwell.

"Can't we take the lift?" Louis whined as Liam slowly opened the door to the stairs. Liam ignored him and peeked inside the stairwell. There was no one there so he opened it wider and allowed the boys to follow as they practically flew down the stairs, Liam always jumping the last few and glancing down the middle to make sure there wasn't anybody coming up. They had reached the first floor now and were about to go down one more floor to the parking garage when Liam heard the door open from the bottom and many footsteps filling the stairwell and echoing off the walls. Liam threw the door to the first floor open, grabbed Louis and Harry by the collar and pulled them back while holding the door open so it didn't slam shut. He motioned for them to crouch down as he slowly closed the door, letting it quietly click shut. The two boys listened and crouched down, followed by Liam as they waited for the footsteps to pass and become a dull thumping as they made their way up to Liam's flat. Judging by the amount of footsteps Liam guessed about ten people.

Liam remained alert and ready to pull the gun if one of them decided to peek inside the door. None of them did, thankfully and soon Liam was motioning the guys through the door, following them down the stairs. He could tell they were both freaking out, no matter how calm they appeared to be. It was in Louis' fidgety fingers and Harry's wide eyes, they were barely keeping it together. Liam really couldn't blame them, even he was freaking out a bit, because he wasn't used to this anymore. He found it hard to keep his heart rate at a normal pace and his hands steady but he had to. If he started to freak out, they'd all be screwed.

"The fuckers locked it." Louis exclaimed. Liam ignored the way his voice sounded desperate, almost shrill.

"Get behind me." Liam instructed when he made it to the door, seeing that they had in fact put a deadbolt on the door. They had probably planned for Liam to escape and were locking up all the easy escape routes. Harry and Louis backed up behind Liam as he pulled out the gun from the waistband of his jeans, unlocking the safety and aiming it at the deadbolt. It's been years since Liam's shot a gun and with his hands shaking he knew this would be difficult. He couldn't keep the gun from shaking for a few seconds as he forcibly clamed himself. When the gun wasn't shaking so much he pulled the trigger, the loud bang echoing off the walls and a small indent appearing right beside the deadbolt. So, he was a little out of practice. Liam shot again, this time hitting the lock dead on, it breaking and falling to the ground with a clatter. He fully expected someone to hear that so he slipped the gun back into the waistband of his jeans and didn't waste any time in rushing through the door before they had an army on their asses. But he didn't make it much further than the door before a fist was being thrown in his direction.

Liam's old instincts kicked in and he ducked, making whoever's fist that was stumble enough for Liam to get the upper hand, grab their arm and twist it behind their back, shoving them face first against the concrete wall and holding them there. Liam couldn't see who the attacker was because they were wearing a black face mask but Liam didn't think he would know them anyway.

"Who are you working for?" Liam demanded, pulling the body back and slamming them against the wall to show them he was serious. The person laughed. "Who sent you?"

"Fuck you." They spat back.

"Tell me and I won't kill you." Liam growled, hardly recognizing himself. He was pissed and he wanted answers. The person laughed again, only making Liam more pissed off.

"You don't have the balls to kill me." The person said, his breathing laboured due to the fact that Liam was crushing him against the wall. "And if I tell, I'm dead anyway so go ahead." Liam growled again at this, knowing he wasn't getting anything out of him and that he was running out of time. He spun the person around, meeting dull green coloured eyes through two holes in the mask before pulling on them again and slamming them back against the wall, their head meeting the concrete behind it and their body going limp in Liam's arms. Liam let them drop to the ground, knowing they weren't dead, just unconscious. He was very aware of the blue and green eyes staring at him in shock right now but he didn't want to deal with that.

"Come on, they would have heard the gun shots." Liam mumbled, avoiding their eyes and backing away from the body, turning around and heading to the parking area. He knew they were following him, he could feel their eyes on him as he found his car. He knew what he had done wasn't the nicest thing in the world but that person was assigned to kill them all and he had to do it or he would have followed through on that assignment. They had to understand that, right?

"Is he dead?" Harry asked quietly as they approached Liam's little red car, as if he didn't really want to know the answer.

"No." Liam answered immediately, unlocking his car and climbing in, Harry following into the passenger seat and Louis into the back seat. Liam started up the car and did up his seatbelt. "Just knocked him out. I had to or he would have killed us, you understand that, right?" Harry took in a shaky breath and let it out, nodding quickly and wiping at his face. "I know this is a lot to take in, but I won't let anything happened to you guys, okay? I was a fairly decent agent, I can get us through this and get Niall back." Liam assured them as he pulled out of his spot and up to the garage door where he waited for it to open.

"Is what he said true?" Louis asked and Liam tried to recall the conversation before knocking out the person by the stairwell but he couldn't remember anything that made sense with what Louis was asking.

"Is what who said true?" Liam asked, meeting Louis' eyes in the rearview mirror. Liam pulled out onto the street, trying to be discreet and keeping his lights off so he didn't draw attention to them.

"The guy on the phone. Have you really killed people?" Louis asked quietly and Liam's grip on the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles turning white. He didn't want to answer that, he knew they would never look at him the same but he couldn't lie to them anymore.

"Yes." He admitted guiltily, hating the silence that followed as he drove down the street. "I've killed many people, guilty and innocent, but never because I wanted to. That's partly why I left. I was tired of killing, I was tired of lying, and I was tired of not knowing if I was going to live to see the next day. I was sick of it, so I got out, made a promise to never kill again but the thing is, is that you don't just leave that life. It's not like quitting a job. You have to become a new person entirely." Liam explained. "That's why I had to lie to you guys, I'm sorry, but it was necess-" Liam's words were cut off by the passenger window shattering into pieces and Harry letting out a surprised yell as he ducked down. Liam cursed under his breath and stepped on the gas, thankful that it was late and the streets were pretty much empty. Behind them a pair of headlights swerved into pursuit, Liam should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Get down, both of you, down." Liam instructed as he took a sharp left then a quick right to try and lose them but they were right behind them and followed closely. Liam heard the sound of gunshots and bullets hitting metal all around them and he prayed Louis and Harry didn't get hit. A window shattered in the back seat, making Louis scream, something Liam promised himself not to bring up later if they survived, and then there was a car beside him. A black car, not much bigger than Liam's, on the driver's side, riding very closely beside them. When Liam glanced over he saw a gun being aimed right at him and slammed on the breaks, watching as the car seemed to surge forward but really, he was slowing down. Liam heard the gunshot go off and stepped on the gas before his car came to a stop and took another left down an alley. He hoped he had lost them but he knew better than to get his hopes up.

When he emerged from the alley onto the street he cursed when he saw the headlights down the street and flipped the car into reverse and backed up down the alley. Liam turned in his seat so he could see behind him, using Harry's to keep himself in the position. He heard Louis cursing repeatedly and spared him a glance to make sure he was only scared and not bleeding. Louis was fine but cursed even louder when Liam accidentally grazed the brick wall that was basically right beside the car and difficult not to hit when backing up at a speed you really shouldn't back up at.

"Li-Liam, they're following us!" Harry said, obviously panicked. Liam however was expecting it so he didn't concern himself with it until he was out of the alley, turning the car and coming to a stop in front of the alley, the passenger side of the car facing the alley. Liam reached over Harry's lap, pulled on the switch that puts the seat back so Harry's seat fell back, taking Harry with him and pointed his gun out the window. He aimed for the tires and shot, ignoring the noises Harry was making from Liam shooting a gun over him. The two front tires blew out and the car swerved and crashed into the wall in the alley. Liam leaned back into his seat, stepping on the gas and taking off.

Harry put his seat back up, breathing heavily and fixing himself, running his hands over his body as if to check for injuries he couldn't feel. Louis sat up as well, seeming to do the same as Harry before turning around and looking behind them. Liam took in a few breaths of his own, trying to calm his racing heart but there was too much adrenaline pumping through him for it to work properly.

"Shit." Harry breathed.

"You guys okay?" Liam asked, turning in his seat briefly to look at Louis to see him nod.

"Yeah. Fine." Harry breathed again, seeming to be out of breath.

"Okay...I don't think there'll be anymore. Do you guys know where Brockville is?" Liam asked because he had no idea.

"Uh, turn left at the light." Louis instructed and Liam would have done as he was told if it weren't for the van that hit the front on Liam's car, the sound of crunching metal filling the air along with Louis' scream of surprise and the car spinning in a circle until it came to a stop from Liam's foot instinctively going to the break in the middle of the road.

"Nobody move." Came a voice along with the very familiar noise of a gun clicking, meaning it was ready to fire. Liam stayed still, his eyes glancing up in the rear-view mirror and seeing there was a gun pointed at Louis' head. Liam's mind went into overdrive. If he turned to shoot, they'd shoot before he could get his gun up. Getting out and fighting hand to hand wasn't an option since that'd take even longer than his own gun. He assessed the van in front of him and knew he wouldn't be able to get around it in time to avoid being shot at as well. The only way to go was backwards. "Get out of the car, or he dies."

"Okay." Liam said, slowly reaching for the key in the ignition. "I'm just going to turn it off-"

"No, leave it, get o-" Instead of going for the key Liam flipped the car into reverse and stepped on the gas, taking off backwards and only swerving a little. The person was left behind on the street, shooting aimlessly after them. Liam shot out his own window, really one more window wouldn't make a difference, and stuck his hand out of the window, firing off two shots and hitting them in the leg. When he saw them clutch their leg, their target long forgotten, he spun the car around, flipping it back into drive and took off down the road.

"Jesus Christ!" Louis swore. "I- I nearly died!"

"Louis, how do you get to Brockville?" Liam asked because they didn't have time for a freak-out right now.

"Holy fuck," Louis ignored him. "I nearly died, you asshole!" Liam squeezed his eyes shut for a second, trying to stop himself from snapping at Louis.

"Lou, please, Brockville-"

"I swear, if we didn't need you, I'd kill you myself, you bastard." Louis yelled.

"Louis, how do you get to-"

"Turn right, Jesus Christ!" Louis cursed again, Liam took the right. Liam knew Louis was only freaking out, and he supposed it was warranted but it was really hard to focus with Louis yelling at him like that.

**Present Time... Thursday, September 18th 12:11 am.**

"Agent Payne, Glad to see you're still alive." The voice said with far too much excitement for Liam's liking.

"Your team wasn't very smart." Liam replied, hanging his head to stare at the ground and trying to block out the stares of his friends. The light above Liam's head kept flickering, as if it couldn't decide whether it should be on or not and there was a slight breeze coming in from the small crack running along the bottom of the entrance.

"No, I suppose they weren't. But I didn't want to sacrifice my good guys in case you decided to kill them." The voice said but didn't allow Liam to respond. "Put me on speaker." He demanded and Liam didn't see a point in arguing. "Now, unfortunately Agent Payne, I don't think you'll be able to accomplish this on your own so I need you to recruit someone for me." Liam snorted.

"Why don't you just kidnap one of their friends? You seem to be good at that." Liam said dryly. The man chuckled.

"Oh, this person doesn't have a lot of friends. He's not very friendly and doesn't get attached for this very reason." The man said, making Liam frown. "Sound familiar?" The man asked, only making Liam frown even more as he regarded his friends. Was he supposed to know who he was talking about? "No? Not ringing a bell?"

"Should it?"

"This person has no known friends or family except for one." The man explained. "And I've already got that person under my control." Liam tried, he really did try to figure out who he was talking about but he couldn't think of anyone. Obviously Liam was supposed to know this person, but it just wasn't clicking for Liam. "So, Agent Payne, you being the only person in the world that this person would actually risk anything for, I need you to recruit him or you can say goodbye to Niall."

"I don't know who you're talking about." Liam said. He could tell Louis and Harry were just as lost as he was, though he supposed they might be a tad more.

"Does the name Zayn Malik mean anything to you?" The man asked, freezing Liam in his spot. Liam nearly dropped the phone, he nearly dropped to his knees because no. No, not Zayn. There's no way he was going to get Zayn involved in this.

"I- I think you're overestimating my value to him." Liam said, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Nonsense, don't sell yourself short. I'm sure you know how to contact him. Do so, and when you have him, come back to this parking garage. Wait for my call, Agent Payne and do try to hurry. I might get impatient and not see reason to keep your friend alive." The man said and then the phone call ended, leaving Liam standing there staring at the phone helplessly and Louis and Harry staring at Liam in curiosity.

Liam's hand clenched around the phone, his knuckles turning white and the edges of the phone digging into his skin but he couldn't let go. If he did, he just might throw the phone and he was pretty sure they would be needing it later. He did however drop his hand holding onto the phone to his side and hung his head, muttering out quiet curses and pulling at his hair with his free hand. They were screwed. Niall was going to die, they were all going to die and it would all be Liam's fault. There was no hope in hell that Zayn would help him. Liam had screwed that relationship up too badly to even consider asking for his help. He'd probably get laughed at. No, actually he'd probably get punched in the face then laughed at. Even if there was a chance for Zayn to help, Liam didn't even know if he could get a hold of him to ask. He hadn't seen or talked to Zayn in three years. He probably changed his number and who knows where in the world he was right now. It wasn't going to happen. What he was asking was nearly impossible.

"Liam, who's Zayn?" Harry's voice interrupted his cursing and his mental breakdown long enough for Liam to look up at them and see the same look that has been on their faces all night. Lost, confused and scared, he hated it. He hated it because it was all his fault. Liam turned slightly, making a fist and punched out the last window of his car, the glass shattering around his hand, probably already weakened from the other damage done to the car. It provided a brief satisfaction in an otherwise horrible night. When he pulled his hand away, he spread it out, examining the new cuts on his knuckles and flinching from the sting of pain. That was definitely going to bruise and he just hoped nothing was broken.

"L-Liam, w-what is it?" Louis asked, fear obvious in his voice, only this time it was fear of Liam himself.

"He's not going to help." Liam mumbled, his eyes locked on the shattered glass covering the concrete ground.

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"Because I know. And even if he would, I only have one phone number and he's probably changed it since I've seen him last." Liam explained.

"So, that's it? You're giving up on a 'probably'?" Louis demanded. "Not even going to try?" Liam sighed, his phone still clenched in his hand.

"You don't understand." Liam mumbled. He couldn't possibly understand.

"No, I do understand." Louis argued. "I understand that you lied to us. I understand we're all in this mess because of you!" Louis stepped toward Liam, the glass crunching under his feet, and pushed on his shoulder so Liam would look at him. "I understand Niall needs our help and I understand you're not willing to make a fucking phone call to try and save him, you bastard." Louis' gaze was so intense Liam had to look away, down at the ground again.

"I'm telling you, he's not going to agree to meet me. He- he could be half way around the world." Liam explained.

"And I'm telling you, you had better damn well try." Louis warned. Liam looked to Harry for help, not really knowing why because it's not as if Harry would disagree with Louis on this. Liam sighed and brought his phone up, opening the contacts and finding Zayn's. He was very aware of Louis watching him, his eyes following everywhere Liam went on his phone. He hadn't used Zayn's contact in three years. He's stared at it a lot because the number and the ID picture was all he really had left of him. He's spent countless night staring at the contact, his finger hovering over the message button as he debated for the millionth time whether he should message him or not. He never did, he knew he couldn't because he had to leave that life behind which meant leaving Zayn behind but he never really could leave him behind, not fully. He was still there in Liam's phone, in Liam's mind, in Liam's heart and he didn't think he'd ever really disappear.

Liam took a deep breath and hit the message button because he'd like to think he still knew Zayn, even if he hadn't seen him in three years. Liam typed out a quick message asking where he was and that Liam desperately needed to talk to him, signing his name because he knew Zayn didn't have the number of his new phone and hit send. Louis scoffed.

"A text? You're leaving Niall's life up to a text?" Louis asked in disbelief.

"He doesn't do phone calls. His phone won't even receive them." Liam explained, Louis frowned.

"Can you even do that?"

"Zayn can." Liam answered unable to stop the sense of fondness that washed over him as he remembered all the things Zayn could do.

"What, does he work for a phone company?" Louis asked dryly. Liam's lip twitched into a brief smile before disappearing and answered the question.

"Not exactly." Louis looked as though he wanted to question that but then Liam's phone was beeping, indicating a new message. Liam actually felt his heart stutter because he wasn't expecting a reply so quickly, he actually wasn't expecting a reply at all. Too surprised and curious to question himself, he instantly opened the message, expecting a 'fuck you' or an 'I hate you, leave me alone' but that's not what he got at all. Instead he got an address to a pub inside the city.

"Alright then, let's go." Louis said, grabbing for the door of the car.

"Wait." Liam said because he needed to think. What was Zayn doing here? How did he know Liam was here? Why was he so willing to meet up with him? Was this even Zayn? Did someone else own this number now and was expecting a different Liam? This didn't make sense.

"No, no waiting. We don't have time." Louis said, pushing on Liam's shoulders to get him to climb into the car. Harry followed behind them and then Louis was pulling them out of the garage. Honestly Liam was surprised the car was still running but he didn't want to jinx it so he didn't say anything. Liam couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't believe he was going to see Zayn again, if it really was Zayn meeting them. He hadn't seen him in three years and he hadn't left in the greatest way. Liam had just kind of vanished without a word. He had to because Zayn couldn't know anything. Liam left the agency without permission so Zayn would have been brought in for questioning and if he truly didn't know anything there would be no risk, for Liam or Zayn's job. Liam still felt horrible about it of course, he regretted it every day but he couldn't take it back now.

"So, who is this Zayn guy anyway?" Louis asked from the driver's seat, looking at Liam in the rear-view mirror. "And why do you think he won't help us?" Liam's jaw clenched as he stared out the window, watching as they passed street lamp after street lamp, the soft glow briefly lighting up the inside of the car before disappearing just as quickly as it came.

"He was my old partner." Liam lied because he knew deep down, even though nothing had been officially agreed between the two boys, that Zayn was so much more.

"And?" Louis insisted, not catching that this was an extremely touchy subject.

"And I left." Liam said simply, trying to keep the edge from his voice. "I left without telling him, he had no idea I wanted to leave. He was also my best mate." Liam opened up a bit more but he wasn't willing to go any further than that.

"Well, glad to know we aren't the only mates you've screwed over." Louis commented. Liam flinched at his tone because usually something like that would be said with a teasing or playful tone to let Liam know he was only playing and usually it was followed by Harry coming to his defense but not this time. Liam sighed and chose to ignore the comment.

"Look, this may not even be him. It could be someone else with the number now. But if it is him, I don't know what he's going to do. He may yell, he may-" Liam sighed again and shook his head. "I don't know, whatever he does, just let it happen. Don't try to save me or anything." Liam instructed.

"No worries there, mate." Louis said dryly, taking a right then coming to a stop outside of a pub. Liam took a deep breath, risking a glance towards the pub and spotting a lone figure leaning against the wall, a cloud of smoke leaving their mouth. Liam's breath caught in his throat because it was him. Liam could tell just by his silhouette it was him, he's spent years memorizing every curve and angle, there was no mistaking it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to make sure to comment and let me knowing you want more! :)  
> And kudos are always appreciated!
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 3

"Shit." Liam breathed out as Louis shut off the car.

"I take it that's him, then?" Harry asked as he climbed out of the car. Liam nodded even though Harry couldn't see him anymore. Liam found it difficult to move otherwise, his legs just weren't listening to his brain at the moment with how nervous he was suddenly. He really didn't know how Zayn was going to react. He didn't even know how he himself was going to react. What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to do? After all these years, what's all changed? Did he look the same? Did he act the same? Did he feel the same? Liam didn't know. All he knew was how much he missed Zayn and wished he could take it all back.

"Come on, arsehole. Get out." Louis instructed, opening the door and speaking over the groan from the bent and shot up metal. One leg after another, Liam got out of the car, Louis slamming it shut behind him then grabbing Liam by the arm and leading him over to the figure leaning against the wall. They had spotted the trio and were now looking over at them, or at Liam actually and although Liam couldn't actually see their eyes, he could feel them watching him. He could feel their eyes taking in his every move, taking in every new feature about him, and when Liam got close enough and was actually able to see Zayn's features, he did the same.

It was like finally finding that watch that you always wore and never took off but lost one day and had given up hope on finding it only to find it in the most obvious place that you feel like an idiot for giving up. Yes, it may be scratched and a little bit dusty but it was still exactly how you remembered it. Zayn was still exactly how he remembered him, minus the blonde streak in his hair. Now, his hair was all that raven black colour that Liam loved and was still styled up into a quiff. His eyes still looked like they saw everything, every little move and every lie, still that golden brown colour that had a warmth spreading through Liam like it used to. His eyes were also watching Liam right now with the same intensity that Liam felt, although Liam couldn't tell if it was out of anger or something else. His face was still all angles and sharp edges, his figure still slim but Liam knew better than to think he was small and fragile. Zayn kept his eyes on Liam as he took one final drag of the cigarette he had been smoking then flicked it away as Liam came to a stop a few feet away from Zayn.

Neither boy said a word, they only stood there, staring at each other. Liam couldn't read him which was odd. He used to be able to take one look at him and know exactly what he was thinking, but now he couldn't tell if Zayn was mad, happy, nervous or anything. His face remained blank and it didn't change as they stood there, taking each other in after three long years of not seeing the other. Liam heard Harry telling Louis to keep his mouth shut, probably sensing this really wasn't the time for one of his comments. _Bless you, Harry_ , Liam thought.

"Zayn-" Liam started because he figured he should be the one to say something and he was very aware of the clock ticking away but Liam was interrupted by Zayn's fist connecting with his jaw. Liam wasn't exactly surprised by the action, just not prepared for it so he stumbled back, groaning from the surge of pain in his jaw and was caught by one of the boys standing behind him.

"I like him." Louis commented from beside Liam as Harry pushed Liam back so he was standing properly on his own.

"You sure you don't want us to help?" Harry asked Liam quietly, his hands still resting on Liam's shoulder. Liam shook his head, touching his jaw lightly and wincing from the pain.

"No, I deserved that." Liam mumbled then stepped away from Harry and closer to Zayn, only to receive another fist to the other side. Liam stumbled again but not enough to fall into Harry this time, he did however need to take a breather, bending over and resting his hands on his knees.

"Did you deserve that one, too?" Louis asked, bending down beside Liam. Liam considered Louis' question as he glanced at Zayn, meeting his eyes and seeing the anger and hurt in them.

"Probably." Liam answered, standing up straight once again. He moved his jaw around, opening and closing it to make sure it wasn't broken and felt the ache all around. "Zayn-" Another punch, this time connecting with his nose and making a sickening crunching noise. Liam stumbled, falling into Harry again with more force and nearly toppling them both over. Liam could already smell and taste the blood, feeling it run down his nose and onto his lip. "Not sure I deserved that one." Liam mumbled dizzily, trying to regain his balance and keep himself from choking on his own blood.

"Okay, although I totally get where you're coming from," Louis said as Harry turned Liam around to inspect the damage because no matter how mad Harry may be at Liam, he was too nice to ignore it like Louis. Liam felt a little too out of it to stop either of them. "We kind of need him, so could you not kill him?" Louis asked as though he were asking Zayn to get him a drink. Harry used the sleeve of Liam's sweater he took from Liam's closet for himself to wipe at the blood, dabbing at his face with the fabric pulled over his fingers. Eventually Liam regained some of his sense, enough to swat Harry's hands away and step towards Zayn, expecting another punch but it didn't come. Instead Zayn turned around and started walking away.

"No! Zayn, Please." Liam called, chasing after him. He's surprised he didn't fall over then and there because he felt a little light headed and his face hurt, a lot, but he needed Zayn to listen to him. Liam grabbed Zayn by the arm and spun him around, meeting the angry golden eyes filled with hurt. Liam almost let him leave because he couldn't do this again. He couldn't hurt him like this again but then Niall's tear soaked face flashed through his mind and he knew he couldn't let him leave. He had to help Niall.

"You're an asshole." Zayn spat, shrugging out of Liam's grasp and stepping back.

"I know." Liam admitted, feeling like the world's biggest jerk.

"Seven years." Zayn spat. "We were partners for seven years, Liam." Liam hated the way his voice sounded so hurt, so broken. "And then you just left without a word. No goodbye, no way of contacting you. Just like that," Zayn snapped his fingers in front of Liam's face, demonstrating how quickly Liam had left. "As if you didn't give a shit about me."

"No, Zayn, that's not true-" Liam tried but Zayn wasn't finished.

"And then three years later I get a message saying you need to talk to me? And I'm supposed to just come running because you need me?" Zayn asked in disbelief. "What about when I needed you, huh? What about when I needed my best mate because he was the _only_ person I ever trusted and he just vanished?" Zayn's voice cracked on the last few words, making Liam hang his head in shame.

"I'm sorry." Liam muttered, the words feeling incredibly insignificant compared to how he felt.

"You're sorry." Zayn repeated. "You're sorry." Zayn scoffed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry I was apparently such a horrible mate that you couldn't even tell me you were leaving. I'm sorry you apparently couldn't trust me with that information. I'm sorry-"

"Stop. Please," Liam begged. "I wanted to tell you. You have to know that. I wanted to but it was better if you didn't know, that way when they questioned you, you-"

"Oh, fuck off. Don't give me that shit." Zayn spat. "You didn't tell me because you were too big of a coward!" Zayn said angrily. "You didn't want to face me again after that night." Liam flinched at the words, remembering exactly what night he was referring to.

"No." Liam shook his head desperately. He couldn't really believe that. "No." Liam repeated. Had he really gone all this time believing Liam left because he regretted what had happened between them on the last night before Liam left? "That's not why I left. I left because-"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it."

"No, Zayn I don't regret what happened. The only thing I regret that night is leaving." Liam said so quietly he's surprised Zayn could hear him. "I shouldn't have left."

"No, you shouldn't have." Zayn agreed. "But you did. So, it doesn't matter."

"It does matter." Liam argued. "You matter-"

"Apparently not." Zayn interrupted. "Apparently I don't mean anything to you if you could just leave me like that and not try to contact me for three years." Liam shook his head again, fighting desperately to keep his composure. He couldn't have Zayn thinking that. He couldn't have him thinking he meant nothing to Liam when it was the complete opposite.

"No, leaving you was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. You are so important to me, Zayn. Don't ever think that you aren't, I just couldn't live with the lies and the killing anymore." Liam explained, unconsciously taking a step forward. At this point he had forgotten where he was or that there were others listening to this.

"Then why didn't you ask me to go with you?" Zayn pleaded as if this were the question that's been plaguing his mind this whole time. It wasn't the first sign he's shown that he was barely keeping it together as well. Liam paused, meeting his eyes and sighed.

"You love being an agent. I couldn't do that to you." Liam answered. Zayn shook his head, making a noise that sounded somewhat like a scoff but also a sigh.

"I loved you more." Zayn said quietly but Liam still felt like his words had just punched him again. _Loved_. As in past tense, that hurt way more than his face. The two boys fell into a silence because Liam really didn't know what to say to that and Liam was able to hear the whispering that was probably going on the whole time, he just hadn't noticed. It brought Liam back to reality, to the cool night air and the damp feeling it brought with it.

"I think they might have been more than mates." Harry's deep voice whispered, or at least attempted to but Harry's always been shit at whispering. There was a pause, then Louis replied, not even bothering with whispering.

"He definitely deserved that third hit, then."

"Okay, um, hi." Harry said, awkwardly stepping up beside Liam. "Sorry to interrupt, I can see you two have a lot to talk about but uh, our friend is in danger and we're kind of on a time limit." Harry explained, slipping his hand between Liam's arm and side to offer some kind of support. Liam appreciated the gesture, he knows he doesn't deserve Harry's comfort and understanding.

"Sounds like a real problem." Zayn mumbled, keeping his eyes on Liam's. "Good luck with that." He said then started to back up again. Liam sighed.

"Zayn." He said, knowing he didn't need to say any more than that.

"What?" Zayn demanded. "What! I don't owe you anything!" Zayn yelled, coming to a stop.

"I know, I know you don't and believe me, I wouldn't be here if I didn't need to be." Liam said.

"Oh, great. So I'm only worth your time when it suits you, thanks." Zayn replied.

"That's not-" Liam began but Harry pulled him back, stepping in front of him.

"Hi, I'm Harry." Harry introduced himself, sticking out his hand to Zayn, only to be ignored. Harry pulled his hand back, awkwardly rubbing it together with the other. "And, that's Louis and we really need your help. This guy- well, he took our friend and he, he says he'll kill him if Liam doesn't do exactly what he says." Harry explained, obviously feeling awkward and nervous, tripping over his words and not able to meet Zayn's eyes. Zayn glanced at Liam, seeming to pick up on the urgency of the situation, then looked back to Harry and listened. "The guy, he- he had these people chasing us, shooting at us and- and now he's saying Liam needs to get your help and I know you guys have some issues but- but Niall really needs your help. Believe me, I'm pissed at him too, he's been lying to us about who he was for years but, Niall's in trouble and I can't just let him die." Harry finished, finally meeting Zayn's eyes, his own filled with hope that Zayn actually understood everything he just said and would decide to help him.

"Why does he want me?" Was Zayn's reply. Liam wasn't surprised the situation didn't shock him, he was used to this kind of stuff after all.

"We don't know." Liam said quietly. Louis had come to stand beside Harry, his fingers nervously twiddling with each other in front of his chest.

"Who is he?" Zayn asked. Liam shook his head.

"We don't know."

"What does he want you to do?"

"We don't know." Liam repeated. "Besides from get you and go back to the parking garage."

"What _do_ you know?" Zayn asked, tired of getting shot down.

"We know he has Niall... He sent me a box with a gun, my passport and a flash drive that had a video of him on it." Liam explained. Zayn studied each of them, his eyes roaming over each face before landing on Liam's.

"Why should I help you?" Zayn asked finally but Louis stepped in before Liam could answer.

"Don't think of it as helping this dolt, think of it as helping me, Harry, and Niall." Louis said.

"Louis, shut up." Harry said immediately.

"Both of you, shut up." Liam told them. "Go to the car."

Liam instructed, giving Harry a look that he hoped said he appreciated the help but he needs to talk to Zayn alone. He could tell Harry wanted to argue but he didn't. Instead he grabbed Louis by the arm and pulled him away. Liam watched them go, quietly bickering the whole time, until they reached the car then turned back to Zayn where they just sort of stood there staring at each other. They've never needed many words. They understood each other and knew the other well enough to know how they felt about something without even asking. Liam wasn't sure how true that was anymore but he did know what Zayn would have done three years ago. He would have already been in that car, asking questions and trying to sort this out with that analytic mind of his. Liam would like to think that Zayn was still all about helping those who needed it, but he knew he had messed things up pretty badly so he really didn't know if Zayn would walk just to spite him or if he would stay and save Niall.

"You hurt me." Zayn said through clenched teeth. "I want you to know that."

"I do." Liam admitted, feeling horrible. He knew it was all his fault but couldn't Zayn see that he was hurting as well? That leaving him like that really was the hardest thing he's had to do?

"And I'm not forgiving you for it either." Zayn informed him, Liam nodded.

"I didn't expect you to." He replied, feeling a painful tug in his chest as he realized the truth behind both of their words. Zayn stood there for another few seconds, letting that sink in before pushing past Liam and walking over to the car where Harry and Louis waited. From where Liam stood he could see them exchange a few words, probably a 'thank you' and if Liam still knew Zayn as well as he used to, a 'You'll owe me for this' with no real conviction behind it because that's how Zayn was. He had walls that he threw up, walls that said he was a 'bad ass' and didn't care about anything but Liam knew he really wasn't like that at all. He did care, he cared so much about everything. He had a big heart, though he'd never admit it to anyone besides Liam, and just wanted to help people. But Liam knew he didn't allow people to see that side of him because he's been hurt before.

He had told Liam it was easier to not get attached then to get attached and lose them. He had told Liam that when they were first assigned as partners, a warning for Liam not to expect anything other than a business relationship. Liam saw it as a challenge though, and did everything he possibly could to get Zayn to open up to him. It had eventually worked, Zayn must have seen that Liam wasn't going to mess with him and decided they would be a better team if they trusted each other. Over the years they had become inseparable, always together in and outside of work. The other agents even had a joke that they had secretly gone off and gotten married, but of course that wasn't true. Even though Liam always knew what he felt for Zayn went beyond friendship, that's all their relationship ever was. Partners and friends, that's it. That is until that last night before Liam left.

He's not sure how it happened, it just kind of did. They had just returned from their latest mission that had involved Zayn getting shot in the chest, two inches from his heart. It was the fact that Zayn had almost died that pushed Liam over the edge. He had been contemplating telling Zayn how he felt before he left, which he had been planning for months behind his back, but figured it would be best not to. If he was never going to see him again, it's best he remember Liam how he's always known him, but when Liam actually saw Zayn take the bullet and fall to the ground, he had thought he just lost Zayn, the man he's loved for years and he didn't even get to tell him just how much he meant to Liam. It was that thought that plagued his mind while waiting to hear from the doctor. When Liam found out that the bullet had missed his heart and was really no worse than a shot to the arm, he had felt as though he had been given a second chance and he wasn't going to waste it.

When Liam brought him home from the hospital, having put his departure on hold until Zayn was released from the hospital, he told Zayn he really needed to tell him something. He had planned on telling him how he felt and he had planned on Zayn rejecting him but that was okay because Liam was leaving the next day. He had also planned on telling him that too after everything was said and done, giving Zayn a way out so he didn't have to worry about it being awkward between them after Zayn rejected him. That's what he had planned on but that's not what happened. What actually happened shocked Liam so much. It was the best and worst thing that's ever happened to him and he still thought about it every night when he was laying in his bed, missing Zayn.

It was the best thing to ever happen to him because when he had finally spit it out, after several minutes of nervous babble, Zayn had laughed that wonderful laugh of his and told Liam to 'just kiss me already'. Liam was too surprised to fulfill the order of course, so Zayn pulled him in and did it for him. Liam still remembers the feel of his lips on his, the way he felt and the way he tasted. Zayn had played it off as no big deal, like he knew all along and was just waiting for Liam to say something, but Liam didn't think that was the case. He knew Zayn must have had his doubts as well or he would have said something sooner but when Liam tried to point that out, Zayn pulled him in for another kiss and well, it just didn't seem to matter that much anymore.

Liam was a little troubled on what to do after that, he wasn't sure if he should tell him that he was leaving or if he should still go at all. He didn't know what to do but apparently Zayn knew what he wanted him to do, apparently Zayn wasn't in the emotional turmoil Liam was and took it upon himself and decided what Liam should do is show Zayn just how much he did love him. He should show him by kissing him everywhere he could, by touching him in all the right places and holding him close after hours of them both showing each other how much they truly loved the other. Liam had laid awake for hours after Zayn had fallen asleep, studying each eye-lash, the curve of his mouth and the slope of his nose, studying every detail including every scar and blemish and putting it away in the back of his mind for safekeeping because he still planned on leaving, making it the worst thing that's ever happened to him. He still had to leave, knowing Zayn loved him, knowing that he couldn't have what he's wanted for so long because he couldn't have Zayn and leave, and he couldn't stay.

The job was tearing him apart. He couldn't kill another person. Every time he did, it tore away a strip of himself and he could never find that part of himself again. Of course he thought about taking Zayn with him but he knew how much Zayn loved the job, getting to help people and be the hero. Liam wished it had still been like that for him, that he could have still saw that part of the job, of himself, but all he saw then was a murderer and he couldn't take it anymore. He had to get out before he completely lost himself and he couldn't ask Zayn to give up something he loved because Liam couldn't handle it anymore. So he didn't stay the night. He didn't wake Zayn up to tell him goodbye. He didn't leave a note or a phone number, he just climbed out of bed, slipped on his clothes and left with a single kiss to Zayn's forehead. And he's regretted it ever since.

He regretted it because Zayn had trusted him. Liam knows Zayn's trust was a sacred thing and that he didn't just hand it out to anyone. He knew Zayn didn't let people get that close to him for a reason and he had gone and taken that trust and tossed it out the window. He had hurt Zayn in the worst way possible, doing that one thing he's always promised Zayn he'd never do and took a couple years for Zayn to fully believe, by leaving. Zayn had lost everyone he had cared for and Liam had promised he wouldn't be the same, but he was. He was no better than the people who have betrayed Zayn in his past and he wouldn't want Zayn to forgive him even if Zayn did. He didn't deserve it.

"Hey, asshole, are you coming or would you like Niall to die?" Louis called, breaking Liam from his trip into his past. He blinked and saw the three of them watching him, Louis with an angry yet bored expression, something only Louis could manage, Harry with an expression that looked torn between concern for Liam and anger for Liam and Zayn with that hard, cold look that Liam had seen him give other people many times, but never him. It was unsettling.

"Yeah," Liam mumbled even though he was positive they couldn't hear him from this distance and hurried over to the car. Louis climbed into the driver seat and Liam saw Harry make as if to go around the car to get into the passenger seat but Zayn was already over there, climbing in beside Louis, giving Liam a pointed look before dropping down into the seat. He didn't even want to sit by Liam and he couldn't blame him. Harry noticed the exchange and got in the back seat instead, sliding over so Liam could climb in from the same side so Liam was sitting behind Louis. When Liam was all buckled in, Louis pulled away from the curb and headed towards the parking garage. Liam couldn't help but look to Zayn, seeing he was pointedly looking out the window and sighed, looking into his lap. He was picking at his nails, trying to calm himself because he felt like he was either going to scream or breakdown and cry because this was all too much, when he saw and felt Harry reach over, covering his fidgeting fingers with his own abnormally large hand and entertwined their fingers. Liam looked up in surprise to see Harry giving him a small smile and felt him squeeze his hand slightly.

"I'm still confused, and pissed and just- mad at you," Harry whispered in that not so whispering way of his. "But I suppose I can be mad at you later when you don't have so many people in line." Liam couldn't help but smile gratefully at him, feeling a bit of the weight pressing down on his chest ease up a bit, but it didn't last long.

"I, on the other hand, am going to be mad at you now." Louis added, turning to glare half arsed at Liam because he needed to pay attention to the road. "What the fuck, Liam? We haven't had time to discuss this between gunshots and bullets and fucking car chases, but what the actual fuck?" Louis demanded.

"I'm sorry, I had to, for my safety and anyone I became involved with." Liam said meekly.

"Well look how fucking great that turned out!" Louis yelled. "How did this guy find out who you were?"

"I don't know." Liam mumbled. He wish he knew, he really did. Liam heard Zayn mumble something but he couldn't quite hear him over the wind coming in through the broken windows and the struggling noise of the engine. "What?"

"You've always been shit at covering your tracks." Zayn said louder, keeping his eyes trained on the buildings they were passing.

"I managed this long without any trouble." Liam defended himself. Zayn scoffed, shaking his head.

"You actually think you've lasted this long on your own?" Zayn asked, turning to look at Liam.

"What?"

"Think about it, Liam." Zayn said, sounding all knowing. "What the hell am I doing in a random city you moved to so you could hide from the agency?" Zayn asked. "Even if that was just a coincidence, how the hell did I know that you were here and would know the address I sent you? Did you really think changing your last name and canceling your credit cards would be enough to keep the agency from finding you?"

"You knew where I was?" Liam asked stupidly.

"The moment I walked into the agency and heard there was a rogue, I knew it was you." Zayn said, sitting in his seat properly. "When you weren't there in the morning and then I tried calling your phone and found it was disconnected- I just knew. I went straight to the computer, found what a shit job you did at covering yourself and fixed it. According to the records now, you never existed. I deleted you." Zayn went on to explain. "I did it before they questioned me and after all suspicions of me being in on it disappeared, I tracked you down. I found where you were living, who you were pretending to be and created you. I made sure all traces of Liam Payne were gone and that Liam Smith was well known around town his whole life, at least on paper. You're an idiot if you thought you were doing this all on your own." Zayn mumbled that last part, looking back out the non-existent window. "I couldn't make you a family because that would involve making a whole fucking bloodline and there wasn't time, so you're an orphan by the way." He added in a grumble. Liam would have laughed at that normally because that's exactly what he had been telling people, that he was an orphan that never got adopted and eventually turned eighteen and was kicked out of the orphanage, but Liam was a little too pissed now for laughing.

"You knew where I was this entire time?" Liam repeated his question, unable to keep the anger from his voice.

"Come on, Li, keep up." Zayn said, using an old affectionate nickname though there was no affection behind it what so ever.

"You've known this whole time and you didn't try to contact me?" Liam asked, thinking that that was a little hypercritical of him. Zayn paused, picking up on Liam's tone and probably knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Sorry if I felt you wanted it that way." He replied finally. "I figured you didn't want anything to do with me after that night. You," Zayn said, turning around and meeting Liam's eyes. "Left me. Don't try to spin this around on me." Liam frowned and ducked his head, looking at his and Harry's entwined fingers.

"Why'd you help me?" Liam asked quietly, knowing Zayn was telling the truth. If Liam really thought about it, he knew the measures he took to stay hidden really wouldn't have lasted this long but he never had any troubles so he figured they must of been working. He never even thought about the possibility of someone helping him. Zayn's also always been good at hacking and all that technical stuff. "What I did was horrible, why'd you still help me?" Zayn didn't answer right away and when he did, it wasn't much of an answer.

"You're an idiot." He said, then turned around in his seat again. Liam hadn't even noticed they were at the parking garage but soon enough Louis was coming to a stop inside and shutting off the car. Harry was the first to get out, letting go of Liam's hand and hoping out of the car. Liam expected him to lean against the car or something but instead he kept walking, heading towards the entrance. Liam stumbled out of the car himself, wondering where Harry was going because he knew he couldn't leave them. He was about to call after him when he came to a stop in front of a drink machine and slipped some money into it. Liam turned around then, leaning against the car himself and watched as Zayn and Louis climbed out as well. He didn't know how he felt about Zayn suddenly being in his life again. Of course he was happy he was still alive and that he got to see him again but it didn't feel the same way it used to be between them, which Liam supposed was understandable. He supposed Zayn had a right to throw up those walls around him again, it just felt wrong to Liam though.

"Here." Harry said coming back with four bottles of water, handing them out to each of them. They all took them wordlessly, each opening them and sipping at them. Harry then opened one of the doors of the car and bent down, leaning in and retrieving some napkins Liam kept in the glove compartment. He took his bottle of water and poured some on the napkins, the napkins soaking up most of the water but some ended up splashing onto the ground, the only noise in the whole place before Harry spoke.

"This may hurt." He said and then he was stepping toward Liam, napkin in hand and extended towards Liam's face. Liam had forgotten about his possibly broken nose but now he remembered with Harry dabbing at it with the wet napkin. It did hurt, his face was definitely going to be covered in bruises, but Liam bit his tongue from whining about the pain. It took a few minutes for Harry to get all the blood, the napkin now a reddish orange colour, some spots darker than the rest. Liam could see Zayn watching them, a look on his face that said he wanted to apologize for hitting Liam, or at least hitting him in the nose and making him bleed, but he didn't. And again, Liam didn't blame him.

"Give me your hand." Harry mumbled and Liam held out his left hand, palm up, assuming Harry had wanted him to hold something. "The other one." Harry corrected and grabbed for Liam's right hand, the hand he used to punch out the window. Liam couldn't help but grunt in pain when Harry grabbed it and flipped it over so his knuckles were up, he had forgotten about it as well and wasn't expecting the pain. "Please tell me this isn't going to become my new job." Harry said, looking Liam in the eye as he used a freshly moistened napkin to clean up the small amount of dried blood on his hand. "I don't want to have to clean anymore blood off my mates, whether it's from their own stupidity or not." Harry said, his voice cracking. He was serious and Liam could tell he feared he might lose someone in the next little bit.

"Promise." Liam mumbled even though he had no way of truly assuring that.

"What did you do to your hand?" Zayn asked. Liam figured the concern in his voice was purely out of old habit and not actual worry for Liam.

"He punched out the remaining window of the car." Louis explained for him. "Guess he figured it looked silly to be driving around with only one un-shattered window." Louis commented, giving Liam a look that said he was an idiot. Zayn looked as though he didn't quite believe that, the reasoning behind Liam's actions, not the action itself because Liam knew Zayn knew all about his quick temper.

"Right." Zayn said anyway. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Wait for the prick to call." Louis answered. Harry had finished with Liam's hand and let it drop, Liam mumbling a thanks.

"That's it? You guys don't have a plan?" Zayn asked, not waiting for an answer. "You're just going to do whatever this phsyco wants and hope he gives your friend back and leaves you alone?"

"He said he would." Harry said quietly. Liam mentally winced because yeah, he knew it was farfetched but he's been a little distracted with other things and worrying about Niall. Zayn's face went blank as if he couldn't really believe they were so stupid.

"Liam." Zayn said and it was enough for Liam to know exactly what he wanted to say.

"I know, I just- I haven't had time to think." Liam mumbled.

"What?" Harry asked. "You don't think he'll give Niall back?"

"Here's what's going to happen." Zayn started, stepping closer to Harry. "You're going to do whatever it is he wants, rob a bank or whatever it is, and if you guys don't die or get caught he'll say 'come pick him up here' and of course, you'll go-"

"Zayn..." Liam warned because he was talking to his friends like they were stupid but really they were just scared and desperate and didn't know how this stuff worked. Zayn ignored him.

"You'll find him in a closet or tied to chair, you'll pick him up and then, you'll be killed. You, Liam, smart-ass over there and your friend. All dead." Zayn finished, bringing tears of frustration to Harry's eyes. "Understand?"

"Zayn." Liam said more firmly.

"What? I'm just telling them the truth." Zayn replied, turning on Liam. "I don't lie to people like you do." Zayn added. Liam knew that was only for dramatic effect, a jab at Liam and something to remind his friends that they should be mad at Liam, because lying was a skill requirement in his line of duty. "I'm just not giving them false hope, I'm not letting them think this is going to be easy. They need to know that this isn't a movie where everything turns out alright. Someone is going to get hurt, I can almost guarantee it. They need to know what's at risk. Their life, your life, my life, there is no guarantee that we all get out of this alive, or did you forget that, Liam?" Zayn asked, starring Liam down.

"No, I didn't forget that." Liam answered, unable to keep eye contact with him.

"Good. Now-" Zayn started but then Liam's phone started ringing and they all froze. Liam's nerves were getting the better of him as he fumbled with his phone, his hands shaking incredibly as he tried to pull it out of his pocket. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, which really wasn't helping with his nerves, and knew they could all see that he wasn't handling this well. It was just too much. His supposed to be normal life being flipped upside down and thrown into the kind of thing he was running from. His friends being put in danger as well, because of him, and they may not make it through this alive. His former partner who he betrayed and hurt and still loved with everything in him was dragged into it as well, forcing him to deal with Liam even though Liam was probably the last person he wanted to be around and that just sucked.

Liam hated that Zayn probably hated him now. He hated that Zayn spent all this time thinking he left because he regretted what happened between them. He hated that he couldn't fix this and he hated that Zayn wouldn't look at him like he used to. He hated that Zayn wouldn't touch him like he used to, and not like he did their last night together, but just the small touches like playful nudges and his arm over his shoulder. He hated that Zayn wouldn't even smile at him or give him those re-assuring looks that always calmed him down. It was all too much with everyone hating him, sure Harry had said he could be mad at him later but it still meant he wasn't happy with him.

"Hello?" Liam answered the phone, holding it up to his ear but already expecting to be told to put it on speaker.

"Hello, Agent Payne! How are you holding up?" The voice asked cheerily. Liam stayed quiet, refusing to amuse him. "Oh, that bad, huh? Put me on speaker, please." Liam sighed, meeting Zayn's eyes and putting the phone on speaker. "Hello, Agent Malik." Zayn didn't answer, he only stared at the phone. If he was surprised this man knew of his presence, he didn't show it. The man on the phone sighed. "That's the problem with society today, everyone is so rude."

"Why did you want me?" Zayn asked, also not playing his game.

"Laughs?" The man replied. "It's always funny seeing former lovers try to get along." Liam and Zayn both looked to each other at this because no one was supposed to know about that. They hadn't technically agreed on anything but after Liam left he just figured it would go untold. Zayn was giving Liam a look, asking a silent question. Liam shook his head because no, he didn't tell anyone, he didn't really have anyone to tell after he left. "Are you two going to be able to work together? I need you two focused, I don't need emotions getting in the way of things."

"Maybe you should have gotten someone else then." Zayn said. He wore a mask of non-chalance but Liam knew him better than that and knew he was extremely pissed off, whether that be at this guy or Liam, he didn't know. It was probably both.

"Oh, no. No, I trust you. It appears you've already taken out your anger on Agent Payne, anyway." He said. Liam hated this man, he wanted to throw the phone, punch out another window, or just do something. Zayn, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed by the comment and just started looking around the garage. Liam could tell he was trying to figure something out, Zayn was good at that. That's why they made such a good team, Zayn figured things out, planned out the mission and Liam followed through with them. Liam was the muscle, basically. He was good at fighting and shooting and all that stuff. That's not to say he didn't have a brain or that Zayn couldn't fight either but where one lacked, the other more than made up for. "Anyway, down to business. You will go to the Clarion Hotel, I hope you brought that passport, Agent Payne because you will need ID to check into the hotel. In your room, you will wait for my call. Do not take your car, you'll only draw attention to yourselves. Steal another one."

"We want proof of life." Zayn demanded. "Or we're not going anywhere."

"Very well." The man said. There was a pause on the phone as everyone waited anxiously. Liam could see Harry biting at his nails, an old nervous habit he was supposed to of gotten over, and Louis' arms were folded over his chest, probably to stop himself from fidgeting but that didn't stop his feet from wiggling around anxiously. Zayn remained pretty still, not showing many signs except for the small movement of his lip which Liam knew meant he was chewing on the inside of his lip. Liam knew that meant he was either nervous as well or he was thinking hard, his guess went to the latter because it's not like he knew Niall at all, unless he was nervous for Liam but he doubted that. Maybe three years ago he would have been, but not now.

"Liam?" Niall's scared, Irish accent came through the speaker, making everyone visibly relax as if they have been expecting him not to be alive.

"Niall," Liam answered followed by both Harry and Louis echoing his name.

"What's going on?" Niall asked, his voice sounding small and shaky.

"Are you okay, are you hurt?" Liam asked instead. He knew he didn't have time to explain what was going on and he really didn't know if he could have Niall pissed at him as well. Not that Liam expected him to be exactly happy with him at the moment.

"I-I'm okay." Niall stuttered. Liam was ready to ask more questions, as many as he could before the man decided they had heard enough but Zayn started asking questions.

"Niall, can you tell me what three times eleven is?" Zayn asked. Liam's initial reaction was that he couldn't believe Zayn was wasting what precious time they had to talk to him with a math question and he could tell Harry and Louis were thinking the same thing but then Liam realized what he was doing and really just wanted to kiss him for being him and thinking of that.

"Uh," Niall mumbled, pausing because he probably didn't recognize the voice or saw the relevance of the question but eventually answered anyway. "Thirty three. Why?"

"Not important." Zayn dismissed him. "Do you know where you are? Did you see anything on the drive? Or did you take a plane?" Liam hoped to God they didn't take a plane.

"I don't know. I woke up here." Niall answered. "What's going on?"

"Niall, don't worry. We're coming for you. We'll find you." Liam assured him. "What does the man look like?"

"I don't know, he's wearing a mask."

"Have you heard a name or anything?"

"No, I-"

"That's enough." The man interrupted. "If you're not at that hotel in half an hour, you might as well run because your friend will be dead and my guys will be after you." The call ended. Liam's hands started shaking again, this time with anger. This man is lucky he's hiding behind a phone because otherwise he'd be a dead man. Liam would gladly break his promise for this man.

"Hey," Zayn's voice brought Liam back quickly before he could get lost in his own thoughts. "You need to pull yourself together. Your friends need you, Liam." Zayn said, his voice soft but stern. Liam nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Did you get anything?" Liam asked quietly. Zayn gave him a curious look. "I saw you look around, you were trying to figure something out." Liam explained. Zayn looked a little surprised that Liam apparently still knew him that well but didn't comment on it. Instead he went on to explain what he knew.

"My guess is he has cameras here." Zayn started. "He said he could see that I've already taken my anger out, he must have cameras somewhere, I just can't see where." Liam nodded, he had missed that. It was probably how he knew when to call and why he kept telling them to come back to the garage. "And if that's true, I don't think he's very far. Unless he's got some high-tech equipment, the camera's range can only go so far. Plus, it's pretty hard to board a plane with an unconscious body without raising suspicion. I also believe he may actually be planning to give Niall back."

"But you said-" Louis cut in.

"I know what I said." Zayn interrupted. "But why wear a mask if you're just going to kill him, right?" Liam nodded. "That doesn't mean he'll return him in one piece or that the rest of us are safe." Zayn warned.

"What was with the math question then, Mr. Know-it-all?" Louis asked. Liam wanted to tell him to shut up and to not talk to Zayn like that, especially when he was helping them, but he knew Zayn could handle himself. "Seemed like a waste of time."

"Oh, really? You know what else is a waste of time?" Zayn asked, turning on Louis. "Talking to a damn recorder. I was testing him to see if he just recorded Niall's voice to a bunch of questions he knows we'll ask. I doubt he would have anticipated a math question." Zayn sounded annoyed and Liam was torn between agreeing with Zayn and defending Louis because he really didn't know any better. Louis didn't answer him, for once Louis appeared to not have anything to say. "I also think he's been planning this for a while."

"How long?" Liam asked, Zayn shrugged.

"I don't know. Long enough to know a hell of a lot about all of us." Zayn mumbled. "I don't like that he knows basically our whole life and we don't even know his fucking name." Zayn mumbled. Liam totally agreed.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked.

"There isn't much we can do, we've got about twenty five minutes to get to the hotel." Zayn started saying.

"How will he know if we get there?" Louis asked. Zayn sighed and Liam could tell it was taking him a great amount of restraint not to snap at Louis. Liam understood that explaining everything you do can be annoying but he had to understand that Louis and Harry weren't trained to deal with this stuff.

"He's probably got the room he's requested wired or he most likely has someone working there... There's countless ways he could know." Zayn explained calmly. "At this point we have to assume he basically knows everything that goes on." Zayn said regretfully.

"So, we'll get to the hotel and just wait for the call, we can't really plan anything to stop this without knowing what he wants from me." Liam explained. Zayn nodded as he slowly started walking.

"I don't think this is just about you." Zayn stated, walking away from the group and down the line up of cars. He motioned for everyone to follow him as he eyed up each car, trying a few of the doors to see if they were unlocked. "This seems too planned out and specific to be just about you. And it seems like a lot of work for a laugh." He added on dryly. Liam didn't know how to respond to that, he wasn't sure if he could joke about that night yet and really didn't want to talk about it in front of Harry and Louis.

"Are we really stealing a car?" Harry asked, he looked torn again. Harry was honestly a good person and stealing someone's car was just an awful thing to do but he also couldn't let Niall die.

"You got a better idea?" Zayn asked as he tried the door of an old Honda Civic that actually did open.

"If we're breaking the law, can we at least do it with some class?" Louis asked, gesturing to a brand new looking Escalade. Zayn eyed the Escalade, his hand resting on the door of the Civic, then looked at Louis as if asking if he was serious and when he came to the conclusion that Louis was in fact serious, he looked to Liam to explain. Liam sighed.

"New vehicles have alarms and immobilizers, it's more risk and more work." Liam explained as Zayn ducked inside of the Civic. "And it would draw attention and it's just a bad idea."

"Yeah, but it seems like that guy," Harry said, pointing to the Escalade. "Can afford to have his car stolen." Liam gave him a sympathetic look because he could see how much Harry hated the idea of someone poor, or at least not rich, coming out to find that their car was stolen because they probably couldn't afford another one.

"They probably have insurance, Haz." Liam assured him. Harry nodded, folding his arms in front of his chest and pouting like a child. The Civic roared to life in front of Liam, the lights coming on and lighting up his legs. Zayn appeared from inside the Civic, looking to the group in front of him expectantly.

"Let's go." He said.

"You know how to hot-wire a car?" Louis asked, stepping towards the passenger seat. Zayn gave him a 'duh' look, and it seemed to be enough for Louis to get the message. "Right, you could probably hot-wire a spaceship." He mumbled, climbing into the passenger seat. Zayn snorted slightly, a small twitch of his lips indicating he actually found that amusing as he shook his head and dropped down into the driver's seat. Liam tried to ignore the stab of jealousy that shot through him, he really had nothing to be jealous over anyway. It was just, he missed being able to make Zayn laugh, no matter how small or sarcastic it may have seemed, he missed Zayn giving him that look that said he was an idiot but that he loved him anyway. He knew Zayn would never be like that with Liam again and it hurt to think about. It also wasn't fair that Louis could get that reaction out of him so quickly after only knowing him for no more than an hour. It took Liam a month to get a smile out of him. But he shouldn't be jealous, he isn't jealous, Zayn wasn't his anymore, he never technically was and Liam didn't deserve him after what he did anyway.

"Do spaceships exist?" Liam heard Louis ask.

"How the fuck should I know?" Zayn asked, exasperated.

"I don't know I just figure with the whole secret agent thing you'd be involved in that kind of stuff..." Louis defended himself.

"You're a dumbass." Was Zayn's reply though Liam could hear the teasing in his voice and immediately tuned them out. He wasn't jealous.

"Hey, you okay?" Harry asked from beside Liam and even though Liam was tuning them out he could hear a very sarcastic apology coming from Louis. "You guys really weren't just partners, were you?" Liam shook his head, his fingers playing with the phone in his hands, switching the sound on and off and feeling it vibrate each time. "You going to be okay doing this?" Liam chuckled slightly though it wasn't very happy sounding.

"I kind of have to be, don't I?" Liam asked, meeting Harry's understanding eyes.

"I'm sure he'll come around." Harry tried. Liam appreciated the attempt but knew that wasn't true.

"He won't, but thanks." Liam said then motioned for Harry to get in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Thursday, September 18th, 1:24 am.**

The Clarion Hotel wasn't the fanciest of places, though it wasn't rundown either. It was a regular hotel with weird multi-colored carpet lining the halls, and boring beige walls that helped the halls seem like they went on forever. There were dome lights on the ceiling every few feet, lighting the way down the hall, and the odd sign telling you which way to the pool or gym. Their room was on the second floor near the back so the walk seemed especially long, and the complete silence didn't really help in that department. Their room, at first glance, seemed like any other hotel room. It had two queen sized beds with a night stand in between that held a lamp and the phone. Along the wall, opposite to the beds, was a television and beside that a mini fridge. Along the far wall was a dresser that held a coffee maker, disposable cups and a tray with assorted sugars and powdered cream for your coffee. To the left when you first walk in was the washroom, complete with a shower and such.

When you looked closer you could see little cameras set up, there was one above the door, one in the washroom and one in the far corner, which meant he could probably see every area of the room. On the bed was four duffle bags, each of them had a label with their names on them. This man obviously planned every little thing out, every detail, and every scenario. Liam only wondered if he missed anything, if there was a way to flip this around in their favour. He wouldn't be able to tell though until they knew exactly what they were being forced to do.

"Subtle." Louis mumbled when he spotted the cameras.

"He wants us to know we're being watched. He's trying to intimidate us." Liam explained.

"Well, it's working." Harry mumbled. Liam quickly squeezed his hand as he shuffled past to let him know it'll be okay and made his way to the beds with the duffle bags. He inspected the one that had 'Agent Payne' on it, making sure there wasn't any other instructions on it or anything that might hurt him. When he was satisfied that it was just a duffle bag, he slowly unzipped it and opened the flaps. Inside the duffle bag was a change of clothes, spare clips for the gun he was given before, a watch and a new phone.

Liam glanced over when Zayn came to his side and Liam thought for a brief moment he was going to say something to Liam but he just grabbed the bag with his name on it and opened it. From what Liam could see it too had a change of clothes, a hand gun with spare clips, a laptop and a flash drive. Louis and Harry had grabbed theirs and were digging through them though it didn't appear to have more than a change of clothes, or Liam had thought they hadn't contained more than a change of clothes.

"Holy shit." Louis mumbled, dropping his bag and holding up a handgun from the handle by his thumb and forefinger, the gun dangling from his fingers. Louis looked awkward, like he didn't know what to do with the weapon, which he probably didn't.

"Oh, no." Liam said, forgetting about his bag and walking over to where Louis stood with the gun dangling in the air. "No way, give it." Liam held out his hand for the gun but Louis frowned and pulled it to his chest.

"It was in my bag." Louis argued.

"I don't care, you don't know how to use it." Liam said and reached for the gun but Louis pulled away. "Careful Lou, it's loaded." Liam warned.

"I know, I'm being careful." Louis assured him though with the way he had it clutched to his chest, Liam wasn't convinced.

"Uh, Li? I got one too." Harry said from behind them. Liam turned to see Harry holding the gun up much like Louis had only he was handing it off to Zayn who took it with a snort, expertly disarming it and emptying it of the clip. Liam turned back to Louis who was now fiddling with his, poking and prodding at it.

"Lou, come on, hand it over." Liam said again, praying Louis didn't flip off the safety.

"No, it's mine." Louis said, glaring at him.

"Louis-"

"Liam, maybe it's a good thing they have one." Zayn cut in, looking down at Harry's gun in his hand then slipping the clip back in and loading it, making sure the safety was on. "I mean- We don't know what we're getting into. We may not be able to always be there."

"No, no way in hell. They don't know how to use them, they'll shoot each other-" Liam started arguing as Zayn handed the gun to Harry. Harry gingerly took the gun, holding it once again between his thumb and forefinger until Zayn sighed and re-arranged the gun and Harry's hand so he was holding it properly.

"We'll show them, it's a precaution. Last resort kind of thing, that's it." Zayn explained, walking over to Louis to place his gun properly in his hand like he did with Harry. "Don't keep your finger on the trigger, keep it on the side unless you're going to pull the trigger. This is the safety," Zayn explained, pointing on Louis' gun and looking over his shoulder so he could see if Harry understood. Harry nodded and placed his thumb on the safety. "Safety off," He said flipping the safety off and then back on quickly. "Safety on. Got it?"

"I don't like this." Liam mumbled, watching with worry as his two of best mates learned to use a gun.

"Don't point it at anything you don't intend to shoot, so get that thing out of my face." Zayn said, glaring at Louis who had turned slightly to look at Liam but aimed it away from Zayn immediately. "You aim and you pull the trigger, watch for the kickback. Unfortunately it's going to be an experience on the go kind of thing since we don't have a shooting range but that'll hopefully help you if you're in trouble."

"I really don't like this." Liam repeated, his shoulders slumped.

"Me either." Harry said with a frown as he lowered his gun and set it on the desk.

"But Zayn is right." Liam admitted. "That doesn't mean you go around shooting anything. Just- keep it on you and if you get separated from us and into trouble... Use it if you must."

"Yes, Dad." Louis said dryly.

"Louis, this isn't a joke." Liam said through gritted.

"Oh, believe me, I know." Louis replied, glaring at Liam with his gun now at his side.

"Okay, I think we-" Zayn began but then the new phone that came in Liam's duffel bag started to ring, shutting everyone up in the room. It took Liam a second to shake himself into moving across the room to where the phone laid on the bed, ringing away. Liam answered the phone holding it up to his ear, everyone's eyes on him.

"Agent Payne, I see you've got your duffle bags." The man said. Liam honestly hated this guy, just hearing his voice had his hands clenching into fists and his eyes seeking out something he can hit.

"What do you want me to do?" Liam asked, not willing to play his game and chat.

"I want you to get a good night's rest, you'll be getting up at nine o'clock sharp and I will call you then." The man said, annoying Liam to all end.

"Why don't you just fucking tell me now?" Liam demanded only to hear the man laugh on the other end.

"Why? So you and Agent Malik can plot against me somehow?" The man asked, making Liam frown because that had been what he wanted to do. "No, no. That won't be happening. You'll find out what you are to do as you are doing it and not a moment before. Have a good night, Agent Payne." The man said and then the line went dead. Liam dropped his hand, tossing the phone on the bed and turning to everyone else in the room who had gathered together and were all waiting for Liam to tell them what was going on.

"He didn't say anything but to get up at nine tomorrow." Liam said, looking to Zayn who cursed under his breath.

"What?" Harry asked, obviously confused as to what the big deal was.

"He's keeping us in the dark so we can't plan anything, so we have to do what he says." Zayn explained.

"Nine? What time is it?" Louis asked, looking around the room for a clock. Liam clicked the home button on the phone, lighting up the screen to see that it was nearly two in the morning.

"Almost two." Liam answered, apparently to Louis' dismay.

"Two? That's only eight hours! I need more sleep than that!" Louis exclaimed.

"That's seven hours, genius, and you'll have to make do." Zayn said, grabbing the closest duffle bag and tossing it on the floor to clear the beds. Liam followed his lead, clearing off the other bed.

"You should have let him believe it was eight." Harry mumbled as Louis' mouth dropped open, obviously not happy. "Um, Who's- Who's sleeping where?" Harry asked awkwardly, looking between Liam and Zayn. Liam looked to Zayn who was already looking at Liam, his honey coloured eyes assessing something.

"I'm sleeping here." Zayn said, pointing to the bed in front of him and something about the way he said it told Liam he was not invited.

"I'll sleep here." Liam said, pointing to the other bed as he finished clearing it off.

"You take Smith." Louis said, shrugging his shoulder until he realized what he said. "I mean, Payne."

"Lou-" Liam sighed, turning to his friend.

"Don't even." Louis cut him off, tugging his shirt over his head and throwing it into the corner. Harry gave Liam an apologetic look as he too tugged off his shirt, tossing it with Louis', as well as kicking off his pants so he was in nothing but his boxers. Harry really had no shame. Louis was already climbing into bed, Zayn just finishing clearing it off and beginning to shrug out of his jacket. Liam pulled off his shirt as well, not really wanting to sleep in his clothes that were all sweaty and gross. He took his pants off as well, not seeing a point in being shy considering it's nothing any of them haven't seen before. It was when Zayn pulled off his shirt, the dim light of the lamp by the bed illuminating his skin and many tattoos that Liam got distracted. Zayn's always had many tattoos and Liam could tell he's added a couple, but that's not where his eyes went first. They didn't even go to the defined muscles of his back, they went to the scar on the left side, right by his heart.

"Shit, dude, what happened there?" Louis asked, obviously noticing the scar as well. Harry looked over as well as Zayn tossed his clothes to the end of the bed, turning to climb in and catching Liam's eye. Liam didn't know why he blushed, he was only looking at the scar, but he did and ducked his head away quickly.

"Got shot." Zayn said simply. "Saving his ass." He added as he sunk into the bed, pulling up the covers. Louis propped himself up on his elbow, looking at Liam who was now sitting on the edge of the bed.

"This guy saved your life, and you just left him?" Louis asked. Louis has never had a censor and Liam should be used to it, and normally he would be, but not with this topic.

"Shut up, Lou." Liam said quietly, his fists clenching the bed sheets. The truth was, Zayn's saved his life many times but Liam has also saved Zayn's life many times as well. It's just how it went.

"Man, what a way to repay the guy." Louis mumbled, scoffing at Liam.

"Louis, stop." Harry piped in, climbing into the bed behind Liam. Zayn remained quiet, staring at the ceiling, not even blinking.

"All I'm saying is-" Louis went to explain but Liam couldn't take it.

"It doesn't matter what you're saying, you weren't there, you have no idea what went on, you have no voice on this topic." Liam said through gritted teeth, turning and laying down in the bed.

"Someone needs some sleep." Louis grumbled.

"Louis, go to sleep, just leave it alone." Harry said exasperated.

It wasn't long before Louis was asleep, Harry following close behind because they were probably both exhausted after everything that went on and their bodies not being used to that kind of activity, they were probably waiting for the first chance of sleep they could get. Liam was just glad they could sleep at all, he was worried they might be too shaken up or worried to fall asleep but he supposed if your body was tired enough, it just didn't matter. Liam wished he could go to sleep right now but apparently his body wasn't tired enough to shut off his mind. It just kept racing with all these questions he desperately wanted answers too but couldn't have.

Who was this man? What did he want from Liam? How did he know who and what Liam used to be? Liam's tried going down the list of names from his past, all the enemies he's made and people he's had to lie to but he couldn't come up with just one person. Whenever he thought of one, another would pop into his mind and unfortunately, it was becoming quite the list. Being a secret agent meant living a life of lies; a new identity every week, a different motive as to why you were where you were, excuses... So many excuses for everything. It pissed a lot of people off, but it was necessary and if Liam was honest with himself, he really couldn't remember every single person he's ever double crossed or lied to so it was pointless to even try. It just made him mad not knowing who this guy was but he seemed to know every little thing about Liam.

This man knew where he lived, his friends, his secrets, everything. What pissed him off the most was that he was dragging all those things into this mess, and there was nothing Liam could do about it. He knew Zayn said he didn't think this was all just about him but it sure felt like it. It all felt too personal to not be about him. It was his friend being held hostage, it was his friends being dragged along, and it was his ex-partner that he had to call in for help. An ex-partner that was always more to Liam than just a partner and this man knew that. How did he know that?

Liam's attention was drawn to his right when he heard a rustling noise. When he looked over he saw Zayn climbing out of the bed and standing up, walking off somewhere. At first Liam didn't think anything of it, he was probably just going to the toilet or something, but then he stopped at the end of the bed and began rummaging through the duffle bags. Liam really shouldn't have been surprised, Zayn never could go to sleep in situations like these. Situations where he didn't know anything, where he didn't have a plan. Liam was much the same.

When Zayn got the duffle bag he wanted, he placed it on the bed and opened it up. Liam sat up now, curious as to what he was doing. Zayn noticed this, his eyes meeting Liam's in the now dark room. Zayn paused for a second, obviously having thought Liam was asleep, but soon carried on without a word. Zayn pulled out the laptop that he had gotten in his duffle bag, along with the flash drive, then tossed the bag back on the floor. He remained quiet as he turned on the laptop and sat on his bed again, legs crossed with the computer in his lap. Liam couldn't see the screen because Zayn was facing him, but he could see the glow of the screen lighting up Zayn's face and that was more interesting anyway.

Liam's always enjoyed watching Zayn while he worked. He always got this look on his face that said he was concentrating hard and that you shouldn't interrupt. His eyebrows always furrowed together, like they were now, his lips puckered as he chewed on the inside of his cheek, a habit he did a lot, and his eyes darting around the screen, focusing on what he was doing. It has always intrigued Liam, everything about Zayn intrigued Liam, and he could spend hours just watching him work. It probably wasn't healthy.

"You're staring." Zayn mumbled, his attention still on the screen in front of him. Three years ago, Liam would have laughed and made a joke about Zayn being too beautiful not to stare, to which Zayn would have probably turned to him and batted his eyelashes or would have told him to take a picture, but now? Now Liam ducked his head, a blush creeping across his face.

"Just wondering what you were doing." Liam mumbled, a little embarrassed at being caught.

"Trying to find out anything I can." Zayn replied, typing something into the laptop, the sound of clicking keys filling the room.

"Can I help?" Liam offered meekly.

"Nope." Zayn answered immediately, never taking his eyes off the screen. Liam frowned down into his lap, picking at the material of the blanket. He hated this. He hated when Zayn was angry with him and now Liam knew Zayn was beyond angry. He was hurt and Liam was the one to hurt him. "I mean..." Zayn sighed, looking up at Liam with an almost apologetic look. "You're about as good on a computer as I am at climbing a wall." Zayn explained, Liam looking up to meet his eyes before Zayn returned his back to the screen in front of him. Liam understood this, Zayn was pretty horrible at climbing walls without the help of a rope or something to help him and Liam barely understood how to download music on a computer. Liam hesitated for a moment then threw back the covers, swinging his legs out and switching beds. He sat beside Zayn, noticing the way Zayn sort of froze for a moment, but ignoring it as he folded his legs up underneath him and looked to the screen.

"What do you hope to find?" Liam asked, watching as Zayn typed away on the computer. The screen didn't look like an everyday desktop, instead it was black with grey letters running across the screen.

"Anything, I hate not knowing anything at all." Zayn replied. Liam didn't understand a single thing going on on the screen, it was just a bunch of letters and numbers moving too quickly to even think about reading.

"I know, me too." Liam agreed with a sigh. "I hate this, who the fuck is this guy?" Liam asked even though there was no way Zayn would know.

"I don't know but he's got a brain. There's nothing on here, it's a brand new laptop." Zayn said with a sigh. "I can't get anything off it."

"You can't even see where it came from?" Liam questioned.

"China." Zayn answered but that didn't really help them.

"What's on the flash drive?" Liam asked, looking to where it sat on the other side of Zayn. Zayn hit a few of the keys, the screen going black for a moment before coming up with a regular desktop, something Liam could understand now. He slipped in the flash drive and opened the window on the computer. In the folder was a bunch of folders, all labelled by dates that went back ten years ago. Zayn clicked on the first one labelled ten years ago, 2012, and inside were a bunch of pictures. Liam could see from the thumbnails that they were of them, both Zayn and Liam in training at the academy when they were recruited. Liam didn't like this.

"What the hell?" Liam mumbled, leaning forward to get a closer look. Zayn double click on the first picture, opening it so it was enlarged on the screen. It was of Liam when he was younger, standing in line while their 'teacher' yelled at them to get their act together. Liam remembered that day well, their first day. He remembers how nervous he was but also excited about finding out that places like that actually existed. Zayn hit next and up came a photo of Zayn on that same day, a few people down in the line. "These are from..."

"He's been planning this for a while." Zayn mumbled instead of finishing Liam's sentence. Zayn closed the picture and scrolled down quickly, probably checking to see if they were all just pictures and finding that they were. There were ones of them running around through obstacle courses and others of them training with guns and even reading up on whatever that had been assigned that week. Zayn backed out of the folder and hit the next one labelled '2013'. This was the year Liam and Zayn were assigned to be partners.

"Maybe he just collected them from the agency?" Liam suggested. It was possible he hadn't really been tracking them this whole time and just hacked the agency's database.

"Do you remember seeing a photographer in training? Why would the agency take photos of that?" Zayn asked like Liam was being stupid. Maybe he was.

"I don't know, I'm just trying to look at all the possibilities. Isn't that what you always say?" Liam asked, getting a bit defensive. Zayn ignored this and opened a picture of them shaking hands. It was the day they became partners, the moment actually. Liam could see the difference in Zayn from then till now. He had a lot more muscle now from years of training and looked a lot tenser in the photo than he did three years ago. Zayn was of course tense now, his walls thrown up so Liam couldn't get in but even now it was different. In that photo, Zayn didn't trust anyone, he didn't want to trust anyone and he was okay with that. Now, Zayn wanted to trust Liam, he could see that, but felt he couldn't. It just made Liam feel worse.

They sorted through the photos quickly after that. The photos ranged from ceremonies they attended to celebrate their success as agents to missions they went on and even just their everyday lives at the time. It kind of hurt looking at old photos of them to see how close they were, to see them laughing and smiling at each other, to see them hugging more often then they probably should have or with one of their arms thrown over the other's shoulder. There were several photos of one of them staring at the other with a look on their face that screamed 'love' and Liam honestly wondered how he had missed it all those years. They had both been crazy for each other but neither of them saw that until Zayn nearly died on that last mission, which he had photos of as well.

Zayn opened that year, clicking on the photos of Zayn being rushed to the hospital, Liam taking him home after wards a few days later and Zayn froze on a picture of them inside of Zayn's house in his room that night, appearing to be talking to each other. Zayn's fingers hovered over the arrow key, seeming to be afraid to hit next but Liam couldn't blame him. He recognized this moment. The look on Zayn's face; a dopey smile and pure happiness in his eyes. Liam was sure this was the moment he was trying to tell Zayn how he felt but failed miserably. He could tell Zayn was afraid to hit next for fear of their being more... questionable photos. Liam didn't know if he should be happy that Zayn still felt something about that night, whether that be fear, anger, or whatever... or if he should feel angry that this guy had apparently witnessed that night.

Zayn hit next on the arrow keys and sure enough, the next photo was of them kissing. Zayn had the arm that wasn't hung in a sling wrapped around Liam's neck while Liam had his hands on Zayn's hip, theirs mouths very much connected. Zayn hit next and next again, flipping through multiple photos of them kissing in different positions and then one came up where Liam was shirtless and reaching for Zayn's shirt. Zayn flipped through a few more and with each one there seemed to be less and less clothing between the two of them until they were both laying on the bed, Liam hovering over Zayn and then the laptop was being closed. Zayn had slammed it shut, anger obvious on his face as he didn't seem to care that he could have woken up Harry and Louis. The two boys didn't even stir.

Liam stared at the now closed laptop, his own anger bubbling up inside of him. He hated this. He hated that that creep had witnessed such a private moment between them and documented it, only to be used as a torture mechanism of some kind because this was torture. It was torture having to be with Zayn but not actually be with Zayn, their past hanging over their heads every second, going undiscussed. That was a moment in Liam's life that he had cherished, a moment he valued deeply and now it was tainted with this man's touch. Liam could snap that laptop in half if given the chance right now.

Zayn on the other hand appeared to have schooled his expression to be calm. Appeared being the key word because Liam knew when Zayn looked calm, he was really fucking pissed. If Liam looked closely, he could actually see the man shaking with anger and really wanted to find this guy and make him pay for this. This was unfair. Not to Liam, no Liam deserved this after what he did to Zayn. It was unfair that Zayn was being forced to tolerate Liam because he was too good of a person to just let Niall die. Liam wished desperately that there was something he could about this, but knew there was nothing other than letting Zayn go, but then Niall would die and he really couldn't do that either.

"Zayn-" Liam went to say because he felt he should say something but Zayn shook his head, successfully shutting Liam up without saying a word. Zayn slid the laptop off his lap and set it on the floor. He turned away from Liam and crawled up to his pillows, pulling the covers up and slipping underneath. He pulled on the covers more when they wouldn't budge because Liam was sitting on them, but he didn't look at Liam to move. Instead he just pulled harder until Liam stumbled off the bed. Zayn slipped down further into the bed, pulling the newly freed covers up and turning to face Louis, completely ignoring Liam now. Liam couldn't do much else other than crawl into his own bed and respect that Zayn didn't want to talk to him right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought! :) comment and kudos and greatly appreciated!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

**Thursday, September 18th, 8:48 am.**

When Liam woke up the next day, it was to voices bickering somewhere in the room. He recognized Louis' higher pitched, raspier voice and Harry's low, gravelly one going at it about something Liam couldn't quite pick up on in his sleepy state. For a moment he wondered if they had spent the night at his flat or if they had just let themselves in like they often did, but then he heard a familiar and unexpected voice telling them to shut up and it all came rushing back to him. The phone calls, the gunshots, the video, and... Zayn. Liam pushed himself into an upright position, blinking his eyes a few times to clear his vision enough to see Zayn sitting on the bed, that laptop in his lap, and Harry and Louis standing at the end of the bed, Louis glaring at Zayn.

"Can you please get your moronic friends to shut up for five minutes?" Zayn mumbled, his attention focused on the computer in front of him.

"Moronic?" Louis questioned, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his glare at Zayn.

"Would you prefer Idiotic? Senseless? Simpleminded? Thick-headed? Brainless?" Zayn asked, not even bothering to look up.

"Real nice boyfriend you got there, Liam." Louis grumbled, turning away from all of them and heading for the toilet. Liam saw Zayn freeze up from the corner of his eye but refused to look at him. He could honestly kill Louis sometimes.

"He hasn't called, has he?" Liam asked instead of addressing the boyfriend comment. Harry shook his head and Zayn stared at the laptop again. He noticed that the phone was plugged into the laptop and curiosity got the best of him. He climbed out of the bed and crossed the small distance between them, leaning over the bed and peering at the screen. "What are you doing?" Liam asked, ignoring the way Zayn seemed to tense up again at their proximity. It hurt to think that Zayn didn't even want to be near Liam but he pushed that ache aside and focused on the job at hand.

"Trying to find out anything I can." Zayn mumbled.

"And?" Liam questioned because he figured that much.

"And... The phone is registered to a 'Cole Harper'. Sound familiar?" Zayn questioned, glancing up at Liam in curiosity. Liam shook his head, the name not ringing a bell. "I didn't think it would. It's probably fake. They registered it two weeks ago, here in the city." He explained, turning his attention back to the screen.

"You think he's from around here?" Liam asked. Zayn shook his head.

"Nah, his accent is fake, it's not consistent." Zayn said. That was something Liam hadn't picked up on, though it was a pretty bold suspicion for Zayn.

"American?" Liam asked curiously. His missions often went outside of England, he's been nearly everywhere to prevent trouble from happening.

"I don't know, it's hard to tell." Zayn shrugged. Suddenly the phone lit up, the ringing noise pouring through the room. Liam hesitated before turning to Zayn, the man reading his thoughts before Liam could even speak. "I can't trace it, this laptop is shit." Zayn shrugged again. Liam sighed and unplugged the phone, hitting the answer button and immediately putting it on speaker. Zayn was better at picking up on any signs or slip ups so he wanted Zayn to hear everything firsthand.

"Agent Payne, Agent Malik. Good morning." The man said and paused for a response but didn't receive one. "Did you enjoy the little trip down memory lane last night? I thought it'd be nice to remind you of why you once cared for each other." The man said. Liam tried to keep calm, to not show that he was angry but he didn't understand how Zayn did it. How could he remain calm when all you wanted to do was punch someone out? "No? Did you not enjoy it? I thought surely it would re-kindle your love, maybe make you forgive and forget. But, no? It didn't work? Pity." The man said, his voice faking sympathy. Liam's hand clenched the bed sheets, bunching them and he was ready to say something but then Zayn's hand covered his and squeezed slightly, telling him to calm down. "Oh, look at that. Maybe it did more than I thought." The man laughed.

"Don't you have anything better to do then play with people's feelings?" It was Harry who asked this, uncharacteristically angry.

"Not really, no." The man answered simply. "You're friend, Mr. Horan doesn't offer much entertainment. He's dreadfully boring and I've grown tired of watching him cry." The man said, now sounding incredibly bored.

"You're sick, you know that?" Harry exclaimed. "What kind of person even does this? You're-"

"Harry." Liam said softly, giving him a warning look that softened when he saw the shine of tears in his eyes. Harry stopped talking, looking at Liam desperately as if he could tell the horrible man to stop and he would.

"There is a reason for everything I am doing, Mr. Styles." The man said, his voice serious now. "Agent Payne did something bad to me, and he must pay for what he's done."

"Then just punish him!" Harry exclaimed. Liam ignored the flare of hurt at Harry basically throwing him under the bus and went to tell him to calm down but Zayn's hand tightened on his hand, making him look over at him. Zayn shook his head ever so slightly, telling him to not do what he was about to do. This confused Liam, but he trusted Zayn more than anyone so he stayed quiet. "Why drag the rest of us in to?" Harry demanded, obviously no longer in control of his emotions.

"Because with great research, I've come to find that the only way to hurt Agent Payne is to hurt the people he cares about and unfortunately for you, that includes you so don't make me hurt you like Mr. Horan, Mr. Styles." The man warned and Liam really wanted to tell Harry to shut it but Zayn was digging his fingers into his skin now, so he stayed quiet.

"Do it! Take me instead! Give Niall back and take me!" Harry suggested desperately.

"Ah, such nobility." The man said. "You people and your emotions, they will be the death of you. Tell me Mr. Styles, is it your friendship that has you offering, or your love for the blonde?" The man asked curiously, Harry going wide-eyed and incredibly red. Liam felt his own eyes bulge because he had no idea Harry felt that way towards Niall. He's never said or even hinted at it. "I hope it is friendship because the pictures of Mr. Horan's girlfriend on his phone would indicate the feeling is unrequited." Harry didn't say anything more to that. Instead he ducked his head and sulked away to the toilet, bumping into Louis on the way and mumbling out an apology before pushing past him. Liam wanted to go after him but he knew he couldn't.

"What's wrong with him?" Louis asked, obviously oblivious to the man on the phone.

"It seems I've upset him, Mr. Tomlinson." The man explained, surprising Louis. "I thought it was fairly obvious Mr. Horan didn't-"

"Alright, dick-face," Zayn interrupted, removing his hand from Liam's so Liam figured he was free to speak as he pleased again. "What the fuck do you want? You've had your fun, we're all royally pissed, now what do you want?" Zayn demanded.

"I want you to go to breakfast."

~

Liam handed the menu to the waitress with a forced smile. The blonde girl nodded and backed away from the table with a promise to bring their meals out shortly. They were downstairs in the hotel's restaurant having breakfast like they were told to do. Why this man wanted them to have breakfast so badly, Liam had no idea, but both Zayn and him were keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. There was obviously a reason they were here, and Liam didn't think it was because this man cared about their nutritional intake.

The table was quiet and tense, nobody talked except for when they gave their orders. Harry seemed less tense and more defeated, sad even. Liam had tried to talk with him but Harry had just brushed him off and told him they should get going. Louis was more of a confused quiet, like he wanted to know what was going on but was afraid of asking so he was trying to figure it out on his own. Zayn was quiet because he was watching the people around him, looking for anything and trying to figure this out. Liam was trying to do the same, but his concern for Harry was getting to him so he reached under the table and went in search of Harry's hand. When he found it, Harry looked up in surprised and Liam gave his hand a squeeze. Harry's face went red again but he sent Liam a quick smile and squeezed his hand back before wiggling himself out of Liam's grasp.

"So... Can someone tell me what we're doing here?" Louis asked, finally breaking the silence between them all.

"Eating." Zayn answered simply.

"Thanks. Yeah, I missed that when the waitress came to take our order." Louis spat back. "What is your problem? Why are you such an asshole?" Louis demanded.

"Louis," Liam warned. It was habit to defend Zayn and to be honest, he didn't like anyone talking to him like that.

"I'm not an asshole, you just ask stupid questions." Zayn said simply, leaning forward on the table and resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

"You know I thought you were alright," Louis glared, letting out a huff of air. "But ever since you woke up, you've been a dick." Louis finished, slumping back in his seat. Zayn shrugged at this, smiling happily at Louis but Liam could tell it was fake. He was certain they all could.

"Yeah, well, get used to it because that's just who I am." Zayn replied. Liam could tell Louis had a reply on it's way but he figured he had to be the guy to keep everyone in order, they couldn't be at each other's throats if they were going to save Niall.

"Zayn, did you get anything from the phone call?" Liam asked abruptly, cutting off what ever Louis was about to say. Zayn hesitated, waiting to see if Louis would say something anyway, but when he didn't, he sat back in his chair, shaking his head slightly.

"No. I was hoping... Well, he got a little upset when you were talking with him." Zayn said, looking to Harry. Harry's cheeks reddened slightly and he ducked his head, looking into his lap. "He said you did something bad to him, Liam... I was hoping he would elaborate on it if he kept talking with Harry. I'm sorry I let it go that far, Harry." Zayn apologized, looking honestly sorry. Harry shrugged at this, not willing to look up at anyone.

"Okay, can someone please tell me what went on on the phone call?" Louis demanded. The blue eyed boy looked between each face at the table, an expectant look on his face. Zayn only raised an eyebrow, as if asking if Louis thought he would really tell him after being called an asshole. Liam simply looked away because it wasn't really his to tell. Harry sighed and slumped back into his seat, glancing between Louis and his hands in his lap. "Well?" Louis encouraged, looking impatient.

"He pointed something out, nothing you need to concern yourself with." Zayn finally said. This seemed to piss Louis off more, and Liam was sure he was about to voice this but Zayn might actually be the one person who was quicker than Louis, the one person who could actually shut him up it seems. "If you care about your friend, you'll drop it." Zayn said, successfully closing Louis' mouth. There was an awkward silence around the table as Louis thought on this, looking to Harry in hopes of him explaining but Harry simply starred into his lap.

"Fine." Louis finally said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Whatever."

"Your breakfast." Came a different voice just as a plate of eggs and bacon was placed in front of Liam. The waitress moved on, setting one down in front of Zayn, then Louis and Harry. "Did you need any refills?" The girl asked, looking to each of them.

"No, thank you." Liam said politely, giving her a smile as she nodded and walked away. After that they all starred at their plates, all of them not exactly hungry at the moment. They eventually dug in, eating in silence. It was awkward with the tension between Zayn and Louis as well as the Harry secret hanging in the air. Liam really wanted to talk to Harry about this, but he apparently didn't want anyone else to know so Liam figured he would have to wait until he could get him alone. He really just wanted to assure him that they would get Niall back, that he needn't worry about it too much.

Eventually a waiter came by with the bill, a different one than the one who originally served them. He handed them a little black book that would hold the bill, smiled at them all and then left the table. Liam grumbled something about how if they were being forced to eat out, that they shouldn't have to pick up the bill and opened the black book to see what the damage would be but instead of a bill inside the book, there was a key. Liam pulled out the key and held it up, raising an eyebrow at Zayn. It took them both a moment too long, honestly, to clue in to what was going on and then they were both on their feet.

"Stay here." Liam ordered his two friends and then Zayn and him were off. They bee-lined through the crowd, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. They split up, Zayn going more to the right and Liam to the left but they were both still following the man that had brought them the key. They saw the man take a turn down a hallway and immediately picked up the pace, taking the turn as well. Liam saw they were the only ones in the hallway so with a quick nod towards Zayn, Liam pounced. He darted forward, taking three long strides before grabbing the bloke by the collar and tossing him up against the wall. Liam pinned him there with an arm across his throat, not pressing hard enough to choke him but hard enough for the man to realize that Liam could if he wanted.

"I'm not going to waste time with pleasantries, I'm sure you have a job to get back to." Liam said calmly, seeing Zayn out of the corner of his eye come up beside them, leaning back against the wall casually, but Liam could see in his hand was the gun he was given and that suggested anything but casual. "We just have a few questions."

"What the hell, man? Could have just asked." The bloke struggled to ask. Liam pressed a little harder, telling him to shut up.

"Who do you work for?" Liam asked, meeting the bloke's blue eyes.

"The hotel? See the name tag?" The bloke spat back and Liam instinctively looked down to see the name tag sitting there on the left side of his chest. It read Chase.

"A name tag doesn't mean shit." Liam said. "Who gave you that key to give to us?" Liam asked, watching as recognition crossed over his face.

"I- I don't know! Just this man, he said if I did he would give me a hundred pounds. A hundred pounds, man!" Chase said, a slight panic creeping into his voice.

"You expect us to believe that?" Liam asked, watching carefully for any signs of this man lying. He was probably telling the truth, it's not that far out of an idea to believe, but he just wanted to be sure.

"What? You- You have to, it's the truth, man!" Chase said, going into full on panic mode. He was probably just realizing how serious this situation was and that Liam could very well kill him if he wanted.

"What did he look like?" Zayn asked from beside them. Chase glanced over at Zayn, seeming to remember there were two of them and not just Liam. Chase looked back to Liam, a question in his eyes.

"Answer him." Liam demanded, pressing a little harder but instantly relieving the pressure a bit.

"Uh, I- I don't really know... It was a man, maybe late thirties... He was wearing a hat and sunglasses." The man said helplessly, probably realizing how useless this information was and thinking they were going to kill him for it.

"Did he mention a name? Anybody with him?" Zayn asked but he was staring at the ground.

"N-no." Chase answered, obviously beyond scared.

"Any distinctive features... broken arm, mustache?" Zayn went on casually. Chase immediately started shaking his head and Liam was about to let him go and tell him to get the hell out of here, but then his expression grew a bit eager.

"Uh, he uh- He sort limped? When he walked away, he was limping." Chase answered, looking quite pleased that he was finally able to give them something, not that that helped them a lot. Liam shared a quick glance with Zayn and he nodded before returning his gaze to the floor. Liam let the man go.

"Get out of here," Liam spat, pulling himself away from the bloke. Chase reached up with both hands and rubbed at his neck as he started to back away. "And Chase? Probably best not to make anymore dodgy deals with strange men." Liam advised, a cold edge to his voice. He knew this had nothing to do with Chase and it wasn't his fault but Liam couldn't help but be a little miffed at the bloke. Chase nodded, taking a shaky breath, and turned around, practically sprinting down the hall and away from them.

"I think you scared the poor idiot." Zayn commented, watching as Chase rounded the corner at the end of the hall.

"Good," Liam mumbled, his head lowered as he calmed himself. He probably shouldn't have approached the lad like that, he probably should have questioned him a little more calmly but he couldn't help it. This guy, this lunatic, was getting to him and he was losing control. He just made Liam so mad, he didn't know who this prick was or what he wanted, but he has Niall and there's nothing Liam can do about it, and that's what was pissing him off the most. There was nothing he could do except do exactly what this guy wants, like Liam was some kind of puppet.

"Hey," Came Zayn's voice, softer than Liam would expect considering Zayn was royally pissed at him. "You need to calm down. You can't let this guy see you cracking." Zayn said, his tone still soft with a slight edge to it that always seemed to be there now. Liam snorted at this, glancing up at Zayn but he found he couldn't meet his eyes so he looked back to the ground.

"I think I'm beyond cracking, Zee. I've shattered, I- I can't-" Liam said, getting a little overwhelmed. There was just too much shit going on right now and Liam didn't know how to deal with any of it. He didn't know what to do about Louis being mad at him, or Niall being locked up somewhere not knowing what was going on. They both deserved better, they didn't deserve to be put through this. And Harry, Harry's been great about all this and he shouldn't be. He should be pissed at Liam too, he shouldn't be willing to forgive, or at least put off his anger, just because he thinks Liam can't handle it. Liam deserved it all for dragging them all into this. He should have just kept to himself, he never should have paid for Niall's groceries that one day he forgot his wallet in Tesco and Liam just happened to be the person next in line.

"Well, you have to because your friend needs you." Zayn said simply, not sparring Liam any sympathy. "It's your fault he's in this mess, so... suck it up."

"I'm sorry." Liam mumbled. Zayn was right, although this wasn't a new realization. It was Liam's fault, it was all Liam's fault. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault. I- You- You wouldn't have to put up with me if- If I-"

"Liam, I already told you... I don't think this is just about you. He's been planning this for a while, for both of us." Zayn said softly as Liam fell back against the wall of the hall. "Yes, it's your fault these people got involved, but it's not your fault that I'm involved. Something tells me I would have been involved either way."

"What do you think he wants? Why- Why us?" Liam asked helplessly.

"I don't know. We'll have to wait and see." Zayn said. Liam looked up at him, able to tell there was more he wanted to say, a 'don't worry, we'll figure it out' or a 'we're in this together' but it never left his mouth. Liam didn't expect it to, not after everything Liam's done. He didn't deserve Zayn's reassurances.

"If I ever lay on eyes on this douche, I'm going to-" Liam began to say, not really thinking about what it is he was saying until it was too late. It was a threat that tore him in two. He made a promise to himself that he'd never kill again, but this man... Liam didn't know if he could keep this promise to himself and he didn't know if he even wanted to.

"You're going to what?" Zayn asked, quirking an eyebrow at Liam. Liam sighed.

"Nothing, let's get back to the boys." Liam said instead of finishing his sentence. Zayn gave him a funny look, pausing for a second before pushing himself off the wall and walking down the hallway without another word.

~

"So what's the key for?" Louis asked as Liam swiped his hotel key-card through the scanner by the door handle. They had just gotten through with explaining what had transpired down the hallway, Harry making sure to ask if they actually hurt the employee or not. Liam assured him that they didn't, but the way Zayn snorted at that had a doubtful expression crossing the green eyed man's face. Liam assured him again and gave Zayn a pointed look, but that went ignored and Liam tried not to let it bug him too much.

"I don't know, Lou." Liam sighed, pushing open the door. "We'll have to wait for him to tell us." Liam made his way into the room, kicking off his shoes and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Why didn't he just leave it in the room for you?" Louis questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Seems like a lot less work." Louis pointed out, taking a seat on the other bed from Liam. Liam tried not to let that bother him too much either. There was a time when Louis would have curled up beside Liam and used him as a human pillow. At the time, Liam would complain and make a big deal about it. Now, now he actually missed it.

"I don't know, Lou." Liam repeated, tired of hearing that answer, even if it was him answering. "Maybe he didn't want us to know about it until now."

"It's a game, Liam." Zayn cut in, joining Louis on the bed, Harry crawling on beside Liam. It seemed as though that bed was an 'I hate Liam' bed and this bed was an 'I can tolerate Liam' bed, because honestly... Liam kind of hated himself too but he was kind of stuck being near himself.

"What do you mean?" Liam asked as he pulled himself back in order to lay back against the pillows. He had not gotten enough sleep last night.

"It's a game. He's playing with us." Zayn answered. "He could have left the key in a drawer or something and then told us to look inside it, but he didn't. The guy that Chase guy saw probably wasn't even him. He's playing with us, our past," Zayn went on, glancing at Liam very, very briefly. "Harry's feelings... Better watch out, Louis... You're probably next." Zayn explained, glancing over his shoulder at the boy sitting behind him. Louis scoffed at this.

"I don't have any hidden secrets. Unlike my so-called friends, I tell them everything." Louis said, glaring not only at Liam but at Harry too. Harry hung his head, finding the seam of his jeans rather interesting. "And anything they know, I wouldn't care if you knew so there's nothing for him to play with." Louis added.

"Oh, really? Nothing at all?" Zayn asked, his tone challenging.

"Zayn..." Liam warned, Louis was his friend, even if Louis didn't want him to be. Liam still cared for him and just because Zayn was Zayn, it didn't give him a free pass.

"No, Liam, I want to make sure Mr. Perfect over here is really as perfect as he thinks." Zayn spoke. Liam knew that tone, he knew a big long speech was on it's way but Louis was already cutting him off.

"I'm not perfect, I know that." Louis spat. "But, I do know how to embrace my mistakes and accept them. Just because you can't get over the fact that you fell for the two-faced liar over there, that you trusted him or whatever and he left... Doesn't mean everyone else holds onto grudges like that. I don't care what this scumbag brings up about me because I am not perfect and the only person I need the approval of is me and me is pretty damn happy with himself." Louis finished, eyeing Zayn with a daring look, daring him to say something. And Zayn was going to, Liam just knew him that well, but he didn't get a chance before the phone in Liam's pocket started ringing. Liam let it ring though, eyeing the two people on the other bed. He wanted to reach out to Zayn, to comfort him because he did look a little shaken at what Louis had said but he knew that wouldn't help things.

"Answer it." Zayn mumbled, turning away from Louis. Liam waited, apparently too long because Harry nudged him in the arm and gestured to his pocket. Liam quickly pulled out the phone, hit the speaker button and tossed it on the bed, waiting for the man to start talking.

"You lot are quite entertaining, has anyone ever told you?" The man said, departing from his usual formal greeting.

"You're life must be dreadfully boring if you have to resort to watching petty drama between four men." Louis snapped, glaring at the phone.

"It is, Mr. Tomlinson, it is indeed." The man agreed. "You know what my favourite bit was?" The man questioned, waiting for Louis to respond. Liam wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about.

"Favourite bit of what?" Louis asked, frowning now.

"Of your conversation. It was the part where you've embraced all your mistakes and how you wouldn't care if I shared one of your dark secrets." The man said. Liam's stomach did a sudden twist as he regarded Louis, he didn't like where this was headed.

"You know, what... Can we not do the whole story telling thing and get down to the point... What do you want us to do with this key?" Liam asked, cutting in before anything was said that Louis might not want said. Liam knew he said he wouldn't have a problem with it but still, it may have been false bravado. The man paused for a moment, seeming to decide on something before continuing.

"Alright, there is a storage room on the top floor at the end of the hall. That key unlocks it." The man explained. "You are to go open it at exactly noon, not  minute before, understand?" The man instructed. Liam nodded once to show he understood. Even though it was a phone call, he knew this man could see him. "Only Agent Payne and Agent Malik are to go. Mr. Styles and Mr. Tomlinson are to stay behind in the room. Don't worry, you won't be away from them for long, but I'd rather you not draw attention to yourselves."  The man said and then he was hanging up the phone, leaving the room in silence.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Updates might get a little slow because all of the pre-written stuff is posted and I really want to take my time with it and get it right lol but let me know what you think! Any chance of comments are appreciated! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and make sure to let me know if you want me to keep working on this, otherwise I will probably just delete it all or forget about working on it lol (no point in working on something no one wants to read!)


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